Star Wars: Dusk
by Kablob
Summary: An exile. A traitor. A loner. A deserter. As darkness falls, they struggle together to survive against the new Empire. (Sequel to "Death of a Jedi" and "The Witch and the Jedi")
1. Introduction

**A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...**

**After three years of war, the Republic has finally gained the upper hand. Count Dooku has been defeated by the Jedi, and the Separatist General Grievous has entered his last engagement against Obi-Wan Kenobi.**

**The Jedi Council, having learned of Chancellor Palpatine's true identity of Darth Sidious, are moving to arrest him, not knowing they will soon be betrayed by one of their own.**

**In a Senator's apartment on Coruscant, a former Jedi Apprentice tries to find her place in the universe. She has no idea that once again her life is about to be changed forever.**

**Deep in the slums of Coruscant, a former Sith apprentice is wandering aimlessly, wanting nothing to do with any Jedi or Sith. Little does she know that she will soon be in the thick of the galaxy's oldest conflict once more.**

**Far away, alone, exhausted, and imprisoned, a former Jedi Knight who played with fire and lost wishes for another chance - or at least an end. But the Force is not done with her yet - and neither is her captor.**

**Night falls on the galaxy, and the dawn is nowhere in sight.**


	2. Reflections of an Exile

**Chapter 1: Reflections of an Exile**

Riyo Chuchi's apartment, 500 Republica, Coruscant

Ten minutes before Order 66

* * *

Ahsoka Tano had always dreaded meditation. She had only done it when Anakin made her, which had usually been when other Jedi were around. Her old master had a similar attitude towards the practice, he only did it when Obi-Wan made _him_. She always wanted to _do_ something, something that would actually be useful. Who had time to meditate in a war? Meditation was for Masters, it was nothing but punishment for Padawans. Losing your attachments to the world, being immersed in the light of the Force, it all sounded great in theory. In practice, more often than not she found herself trying not to think about how much she needed to use the 'fresher.

Ahsoka opened her eyes with an impatient groan. It looked like she had lost that particular battle again. _I've fought off dark Jedi and assassins, but I can't beat my own karking bladder._ She got up from where she had sat cross-legged on the floor of Riyo's living room, making her way towards the refresher. There was no sound but the soft echoing of her own footsteps, the lack of light from outside letting her know that she had been at it well into the night. Riyo must have gone to bed a while ago, not wanting to disturb her friend's meditation attempt. _If I didn't notice that_, Ahsoka thought as she opened the door to the 'fresher, _then I'm pretty terrible at being a bodyguard._

She sat down and let her bladder release. Why was she even trying to meditate, when she found it so boring? No one could make her now, it's not like she got assignments from Jedi Masters anymore. Ahsoka let the back of her head rest against the wall behind her with a soft _thump_ and stared at the ceiling. There was no denying it, the only reason she even tried meditating anymore was out of habit, because it was one of the few things she still had that connected her to her past life. She couldn't just stop being a Jedi, no matter how much she wanted to. It wasn't her name on a roster list, or the braid that had marked her rank of Padawan, or even her lightsaber that made her a Jedi. It was a way of life that she had lived for thirteen years.

_Thirteen years._ That was how long she had been a Jedi. Before, to find that length of time she had just subtracted three years from her current age, she had been three when Plo Koon discovered her potential on Shili and brought her to the Temple. But Ahsoka had turned seventeen standard years old just a month ago, and still the number was thirteen. It would never change. It was such an incredibly small fraction of her natural life span. How many years would it take for her to stop wasting time meditating? _I am not a Jedi!_ She wouldn't get a bust in the archives and be known as number Twenty One, of course, because she wasn't a Master. Padawans leaving the Order were still rare, even if there had been far more than twenty in a thousand generations. Expulsion was not anywhere near that rare. She remembered hearing a few months before her own ordeal that a fellow Togruta Padawan, a male named Codi Ty, was expelled for seeking vengeance against Grievous. At least they had done the kindness of putting her name back on the rolls, before marking her as having left of her own free will.

Her Padawan "braid" was pulled roughly from her headdress as Ki-Adi Mundi verbally beat her down, not severed by a lightsaber blade in a Knighting ceremony. As a Togruta, Ahsoka couldn't grow hair, so she had used a string of beads to mark her Padawan status. She'd been so used to it's comforting weight that she only noticed it when it occasionally rubbed against her sensitive lekku, forcing her to suppress a shiver. The only time she had taken it off in the short two and a half years of her apprenticeship was the brief period when Cad Bane took it from her as a trophy. When she left she had closed Anakin's hands around it, and suspected he had kept it as a tragic keepsake of his errant apprentice. She didn't even have her old lightsaber anymore; the weapon that now sat on an end table in the next room was built by her a just few months ago on her "expedition" to Ilum with Asajj Ventress. Ahsoka didn't want to imagine what Anakin's face would look like if he learned that she'd taken Dooku's former assassin to one of the Jedi's most sacred locations, then helped her build a _lightsaber_. The Jedi Council's expression, on the other hand… Ahsoka cracked a small smile as the image of the shocked, appalled Masters popped into her head.

_It would serve them right._

At least losing her old lightsaber and shoto in the depths of Coruscant had saved her from that moment when she would have had to leave the weapon behind in the Temple along with the life it represented.

_I suppose you should thank Barriss then, _a bitingly sarcastic thought asked unbidden,_for beating you to a pulp?  
_  
Ahsoka winced at the thought. Thinking of the girl she'd considered her best friend was still too painful. It probably always would be, but that didn't stop her mind from wandering to her. There were just too many things that reminded her of Barriss. Something she heard would remind her of something Barriss had said once, making her remember a newly bittersweet memory. Once, a few weeks ago, she'd been guarding Riyo as she met with the reinstated Senator of newly-reconquered Mirial, and Ahsoka hadn't been able to look any of the olive-skinned, tattooed humanoids in the eye. Which was utterly ridiculous, but knowing that didn't change it.

Ahsoka flushed the 'fresher and stood up. _Damn it, it's not like I'd be able to thank her even if I wanted to._ Barriss had died on the same day the Separatists attacked Coruscant, while Ahsoka and Ventress were off on Ilum. Right after the blasted, nonsensical, insane vision she'd seen on that frozen rock had convinced Ahsoka that there was still good in her "friend" after all.

She walked over to the sink and slammed her hands down on the counter much harder than she'd meant to. What was the _kriffing_ point of showing her that if Barriss was already dying?! Ahsoka closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She knew she shouldn't think like that, it's not like raging at the Force would get her anywhere.

_It's not like you're going anywhere anyway_, that bitter internal voice said.

Ahsoka looked in the shining mirror behind the sink, staring at her own reflection. Her lekku seemed a bit longer than the last time she'd checked, and her montrals were getting more pronounced too. Other than that, she was still the spitting image of Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan and Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic, even down to her clothes. But she wasn't that anymore, she was… _what?_

After she'd suffered through Asajj's celebration of Count Dooku's death - and made sure the drunken woman didn't choke on her own vomit or something equally ignominious - the two had gone their separate ways. Ahsoka had almost felt sad about it, which showed just how bizarre her life had gotten. _"These are strange times",_ she remembered Asajj say the first time they had teamed up. Ahsoka had wanted to help nudge Asajj away from the dark side. She wanted to think it had worked, at least a little bit, but she doubted it. Still, some feeling in the Force made her think that they would meet again someday. _Hopefully she won't decide to try and kill me again._ Bizarrely, Ahsoka found herself grinning._Hey, it's not like I have a bounty on my head anymore._

After Ilum, she had contacted her old friend Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora, and Riyo had offered her a place to sleep and a position as her bodyguard. It gave Ahsoka a good resting place to think about her future, but she was no closer to deciding what she would do than she had been when she walked down the Temple stairs nine months ago. She enjoyed spending so much time with Riyo, but Ahsoka knew that being a bodyguard was definitely not her calling in life. Even if now and then she got to see Padme too. There was an unspoken offer of help from the Naboo senator too, but Ahsoka knew Padme didn't speak it for a reason.

Working for Padme would mean seeing Anakin, and Ahsoka didn't know if she was ready for that. More importantly, she did know that _he_ wasn't ready for that. In their few conversations, they had deliberately avoided the topic of Anakin Skywalker, but Ahsoka didn't need the Force to tell that Padme was worried about him. She knew that her former Master and Padme were… close, like she had implied to Anakin in her last conversation with him, but she really didn't want to learn just how close. She _especially_ wanted to think that the noticeable swelling of Padme's stomach over the last few months was because she was indulging in too many sweets. The other option was problematic, to say the least. _Maybe Skyguy will be following my example soon, eh?_ Ahsoka grinned at the idea. The two of them, traveling the Galaxy, no Jedi Council to answer to, fighting injustice wherever they went? The fantasy was appealing, to say the least. But it was just that, a fantasy. Anakin wouldn't really leave the order. Ahsoka removed her gloves and turned the water on, leaning down to splash it in her face.

_And he and Padme definitely have not done… that!_

She almost believed it.

Ahsoka reached for one of Riyo's towels to dry off. She needed to focus on finding something real to do, not fantasizing about some crazy Grey Jedi-vigilante scheme with Anakin. She didn't lack for options, that was for sure. There were no less than three galactic Senators and two actual _monarchs _who would gladly help her out, she could get any position she wanted on Naboo, Pantora, Dac, or Onderon. She was practically an honorary citizen of Onderon anyway, after her role in the resistance there. She wasn't sure she wanted to be around Lux that much though, no matter how much he was her friend. _Kriff, I was awkward around him when attachments were forbidden, how awkward would I be now?_The idea gave her a strange urge to laugh. Though that rule had never seemed to stop Anakin… _best not think about that._ She'd definitely be welcomed on Kiros. Roshtii had practically named her the Hero of Kiros, along with Anakin and Master Kenobi. The thought of going to her own people led her thoughts again to some of the things she'd wondered about for months now.

Shili. Her homeworld, a place she only remembered visiting once, when she'd earned the Akul-tooth headdress she wore now. Before that there were only a few vague, fuzzy memories of a small village in the red-and-white savannahs. Did she have family there? Were they alive? Did they know about anything she'd done since they had turned her over to Plo Koon? Did they even care? Had they smiled to find her name show up in a holonet news report from the front lines, or anxiously followed her trial for treason? Or had they done their best to move on, to pretend that there had never been an "_Ahsoka_" Tano. Maybe they were dead, or maybe at that moment they were wondering if their long-lost relative would seek them out.

Ahsoka didn't know if she wanted to know the answers to those questions yet. She replaced the now damp towel on the rack she'd gotten it from and yawned. All of that heavy stuff could wait, right now she just wanted to get some sleep.

But it turned out that she wasn't going to get that sleep for a long time, because unknown to Ahsoka Tano, not that terribly far away the most powerful and terrible being in the entire galaxy spoke a simple, eight syllable phrase into a holo-transceiver, a phrase that would change the galaxy and her life forever.

Ahsoka turned towards the door and took a step forward.

And then she felt it hit her.


	3. As if Millions of Voices Cried Out

_Order 66: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established._

* * *

Ahsoka had felt disturbances in the Force before, she'd felt darkness, even evil. But none of it compared to the blast of utter dread that hit her then. There were a thousand voices screaming inside her head, voices full of pain, fear, anger, hatred. She was falling through darkness, flashes of hazy, ill-defined scenes of horror leaping into view, only to dissolve into smoke before she could get a good look at them. She heard blaster fire, the hum of lightsabers, the sound of them clashing together, the terrible sound they made cleaving into flesh. She heard an utterly inhuman growl, the sound of glass shattering, and above it all the _screams_. The Force itself was reeling as darkness enshrouded her and everything else. The cacophony was inside her head, it was everywhere. It had only been a few seconds, but they had felt like hours of torment. Finally the wretched screams were petering out, fading away. No, not fading, they were just _ending_. Abruptly cutting off without warning, one by one they fell silent.

Ahsoka felt bone-chillingly cold. Without even realizing what she was doing, Ahsoka reached out towards _him_, the only one she knew could make it stop, the man whose warmth could banish the cold and the dark of the entire galaxy. For the first time in months the Force bond she shared with her Master flared to life; no matter how far apart in the Galaxy they were, she and Anakin were always right with each other when they wanted.

_Help me Master!_

What she felt in response was beyond horrific. The darkness was pulsing _through_ their link, contaminating their precious bond. Instead of comforting warmth, it was searingly hot. All of the anger, the hatred, all the terrifying madness of it all was flowing from him, overpowering the Anakin she knew, and it was _burning_ her.

And she could hear his voice above all the others, a deep scream that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.

It blew Ahsoka back, sending her tumbling end over end.

_Master, no! Please it's me, Ahsoka! I need you!_

She tried to fight her way back against the dark current, back to her master who could save her.

_Anakin!_

It stopped. The line went dead, cut off. Severed.

_Anakin, come back! I need you!_

There was no response from him, and Ahsoka slipped and fell, desperately holding on so she didn't lose the path entirely.

_Anakin!_

There was mocking laughter now echoing all around her, drowning out the remaining screams, but it was not Anakin's. She recognized it instantly, and saw the face it belonged to floating before her for just a split second. Pale, white, hairless, glowing red eyes, a knowing smirk on his face, crimson red stripes running down that made it seem like blood ran from his eyes.

The Son of Mortis was laughing at her.

She summoned up all her strength for one last try, one more yell into the storm.

_ANAKIN!_

_Ahsoka! _Someone was shouting her name, but it was not Anakin.

_Ahsoka wake up! What's wrong?!_

* * *

Ahsoka's awareness flashed back to reality, and she felt the cold tiled floor of the refresher against her skin. There were hands on her shoulders, a light, warm touch that seemed to be afraid it would break her if it pushed harder.

"Ahsoka!"

Her eyes shot open at the sound of Riyo Chuchi's voice. Her friend crouched over her, her face the palest shade of blue imaginable. Her golden eyes were wide in shock and her lavender hair disheveled.

"I-I'm f-fine," Ahsoka stammered without thinking.

"No you are not!" Riyo's voice went high-pitched. "I heard you screaming all the way from my bedroom!" Ahsoka hadn't even realized she was screaming, everyone else's had drowned her out. "What is it?" Riyo seemed to notice then that she was crowding Ahsoka, their faces only a few inches apart. She stood up and took a few steps back, and Ahsoka noticed Riyo was barely half-dressed. _She must have run straight from her sleep._ Riyo didn't seem to care; modesty was the last thing on either of their minds.

"Just breathe slowly and tell me what happened."

_Oh,_ Ahsoka thought. She had been so focused on Riyo that she hadn't noticed she was practically hyperventilating. She fought to keep her breathing under control, to shake the horrible dread that had seized her.

"Jedi thing," she gasped out finally, wincing at her instinctive description. She tried to stand up, and Riyo grasped her by the hands to help steady her.

"Do I need to call a medic? Or the Temple, or something?" Riyo's breathing was barely any more controlled. _Is she shaking, or is that me?_ Ahsoka wobbled uncertainty, her feet barely supporting her weight.

"No, I'll be alright, it was something…" She struggled to find the right words. "_Wrong_, with the Force." Something Riyo had said struck a chord. _Temple!_ A new, foreboding terror came over her, and Ahsoka wrenched her hands out of her friend's, bolting for the apartment's balcony.

_No no no no no no-_

Not having time to bother with the controls, Ahsoka slid the glass door aside with the Force. She skidded to a stop, her momentum carrying her to the railing which she gripped like she was holding on for her life.

The worst fear that she had back inside was realized.

The Jedi Temple was _burning_.

Ahsoka stared dumbfounded at the cloud of smoke billowing over the ziggurat, dimly aware of Riyo's footsteps running up behind her.

"Ahsoka, what-" Chichi's question ended in a gasp. "No! How could the Separatists attack here again?! The war is nearly kriffing _over_!"

Even the new and unheard of spectacle of Riyo Chuchi swearing wasn't enough to draw Ahsoka's gaze from the distant, flickering orange lights. And even at this distance she could have sworn she kept seeing flashes of blue in it. _Blaster fire._

"Toro! I need you to call emergency services, there's some kind of attack at the Jedi Temple!" Riyo was speaking to someone else, probably over the communicator, but Ahsoka didn't notice.

She just stood there blankly, mouth agape, trying to process the image she saw.

_I can't believe a Jedi could attack a place this sacred!_

She pushed the flashback down to the pit it had emerged from. This was far worse than Barriss' betrayal. _My home is burning! No, not my home anymore! I don't care, it was my home for my entire life, I can't just stand here and watch! No no no, I wasn't feeling them die, I did **not** feel Anakin die, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I can't feel him anymore._

"Ahsoka."

Something in Riyo's tone was enough to make her turn around. Her friend was clutching the communicator so hard in her hands that Ahsoka thought it would break. Riyo had just ended a call with someone. If Ahsoka thought her face was pale before, now it was practically white. She was definitely shaking now.

"Ahsoka, I need you to listen to me very carefully." Riyo's voice was much calmer than she looked, void of emotion, straight to the point.

Ahsoka nodded, unable to speak. _I have a bad feeling_ _about this_ didn't begin to cover it.

"I need you to look in my desk and take some things from it. There should be a few hundred credits, a communicator, the keys to my speeder, and a blaster pistol. Take all of them, and you should probably get some food from the pantry, ration bars or something you can eat on the go. There's a medpack under the sink in the kitchen, get that too."

Alright, now Ahsoka was getting scared all over again. "Riyo, what-"

"Ahsoka, there's no time. I just spoke to my secretary, he said that emergency services have been specifically told to ignore the Jedi Temple, it's on _military lockdown_."

It took a second for her words to sink in.

"WHAT!?"

"It's not a Separatist attack Ahsoka. They're-" Riyo's voice faltered for a moment, and she choked.

"It's the clones. They're attacking the Jedi."

What._ No, that's impossible. Rex couldn't do that, he's my friend, none of them could. Riyo, you're talking nonsense._

None of the words came out, Ahsoka didn't make a sound.

Riyo continued over Ahsoka's shocked silence. "The Chancellor's office says that there was some kind of Jedi rebellion, and it's being suppressed-" Riyo nearly spat the word- "by the clone troops."

Ahsoka made an incomprehensible sound, one that she meant to be: _Even if that's true, why are you so worried about me?_

Riyo seemed to understand the gist of it. She held up her hand to stop Ahsoka.

"I know, you're not a Jedi. It doesn't matter. Toro said that just before I called him a squad of clones came by and asked him where I was, and especially where they could find Ahsoka Tano. They're on the way here right now."

Ahsoka began, "But-"

"Ahsoka they don't care! They're coming here, to _kill you_. Palpatine thinks even ex-Jedi are a threat to him." Riyo's panic was seeping out around her outward calmness.

"Now listen to me. Desk, credits, comm, food, medpack, speeder. The next part is going to be hard for you, but you have to listen to me, and you have to do it. Understand?" Riyo had forced down the panic from earlier, now she had the calm, commanding tone that had taken her so far in life.

Ahsoka nodded.

"You have to Force-push me into the wall and knock me out. Tie me up, too."

Ahsoka's eyes went wide. She couldn't have been more shocked if Darth Bane himself had descended from the sky singing a Corellian opera.

"Why in the _hell_ should I do that?!"

Riyo fixed her with a steady gaze. "If they think I helped you escape, they'll interrogate me until I tell them everything, and then I'll be executed."

Ahsoka's mouth opened and closed a few times before she found her words.

"But what about-"

"What? Rule of law? Democracy? Do you think that exists when Palpatine is having all the Jedi _murdered_?!" She almost shouted the last word. "All of that's dead, as of tonight. I don't buy that "_Jedi Rebellion_" line for a second. This is a power grab, no question about it. I'm already going to be under suspicion, I signed the Petition of the 2000. One bit of evidence of so-called _treachery_, and I'm dead. It has to look like I tried to keep you here. We've got to save each other's lives, Ahsoka."

That was when it really hit her. This was real, this was happening. All the fears she'd never had were happening all at once. This was the beginning of a terrible new chapter in galactic history, and Ahsoka was right in the middle of it. She forced herself to stop leaning against the rail and stand up straight. If she kept freezing up like this she was dead. It wasn't like the last time she was on the run, when Anakin and Master Plo were her pursuers. This was Wasskah, only a thousand times larger. They would kill her on sight now, just for something that she used to be.

And there was no way in this star system or any other that Ahsoka Tano was going to let that happen.

"Alright. I… suppose you want me to do it now?"

Riyo nodded. "Do try to make it convincing."

Ahsoka raised her hands in front of her. Despite all of her amazing resolve, Riyo flinched slightly in anticipation.

"Riyo..." Ahsoka began, eyesight blurring with tears.

"Goodbye, Ahsoka. This is… this is probably goodbye." Riyo looked stricken with pure grief.

She could feel the tears flowing down her cheek now.

"Thank you. For everything."

Riyo gave a small, sad smile. "That's what friends are for."

Ahsoka closed her eyes. "Goodbye Riyo."

She pushed out with a wave of the Force, directed at the brave, incredible woman standing in front of her.

She heard a crash, a muffled, reflexive cry of pain, and a heavy thump. Ahsoka opened her eyes to see Riyo sprawled on the floor at the far end of the living room, her limbs unnaturally askew in a way that made Ahsoka wince. There were a few cracks on the far wall where she had impacted. A lamp that had been in her path was in a dozen pieces on the floor now, shattered.

Just like the rest of the world.

Ahsoka ran over, checking that she was alright. She felt like her heart was caught in her throat until she felt Riyo's pulse, and the Pantoran let out a soft moan at her touch. There wasn't any permanent damage, but she would probably have a concussion when she woke up, not to mention the bruises that were already appearing, her blue skin turning dark purple. Ahsoka forced down the intense feeling of guilt; Riyo knew what she was signing up for, and there was no time to think. Ahsoka ran into the kitchen, grabbed a few rags off the counter, then ran back. She was in such a hurry that she had to take a second to remember her knot-tying lessons before she got started. She pulled Riyo away from the wall, bound her ankles together, then her knees, finally her wrists. She had to force herself to tighten them, if she didn't make this believable… _Don't think about that._She stuffed the remaining rags in Riyo's mouth and tied the last around her head, gagging her for good measure. _Sorry, I'm sure someone will find you soon._

There was no time for sorry. Ahsoka left her friend lying there and ran into Riyo's office, pulling open the drawer of her desk. Hidden behind a couple of datapads was what Riyo had said was there. She grabbed the stack of credits, shoving them into a pocket along with the speeder key. She hesitated over the small holdout blaster before taking it too, making it hang on the hook that had once held her shoto. Hopefully she wouldn't need it. Not even pausing to close the drawer, Ahsoka ran into a hall closet and took an empty rucksack, then went into the pantry. _She said to get food._ She grabbed everything that looked like meat; some kind of jerky, a few tins of salted fish, a lot of protein bars. _Make sure this is stuff you can eat, Tano,_ Ahsoka reminded herself, cursing her carnivorous anatomy. Satisfied with her choices, Ahsoka went over to the sink and opened the cabinet beneath it. After throwing out a few bottles of cleaner, she found the medpack and dropped it in the bag. She had another thought and filled up a few canteens at the sink. _Okay, that should cover it._ Ahsoka hoisted the sack over her shoulder and ran across the apartment to the balcony, trying not to look at Riyo's bound form as she passed it. _Sorry about the mess._ The speeder was parked next to the balcony on a small platform. Ahsoka threw the sack into the passenger seat and started to climb in the open-topped vehicle, only to stop herself.

_Blast it, get your act together! How can you forget that,_ Ahsoka scolded herself. She ran back inside and grabbed her lightsaber off the table, hanging it at its familiar place on her belt. The weight of it made her feel safer, but as she thought about it she realized walking around with a lightsaber in plain sight probably wasn't the smartest idea now. She sprinted into Riyo's bedroom, threw open the closet door, and grabbed the first poncho she saw. _Ponchos are the best way to hide your identity,_ Anakin had told her so long ago, which had made Obi-Wan laugh. Master Kenobi had explained that lesson was passed down all the way from Qui-Gon Jinn. Ahsoka threw it over herself, and froze when she heard a pounding on the apartment's entrance.

_"__Senator Chuchi! This is Commander Stone of the Coruscant Guard, open this door immediately! We have urgent business!"_ The muffled voice was instantly recognizable as that of a clone trooper.

Ahsoka used the Force to enhance her speed as she ran outside, jumping into the speeder's open cockpit. She fumbled with the ignition, then gunned it, kicking up a cloud of dust behind her as she sped away into the Coruscant night. She had to swerve immediately to keep from hitting another airspeeder as the other driver's horn blared at her. Ahsoka could feel her lekku blushing in embarrassment. She couldn't repay Riyo's generosity by crashing immediately. _Come on Tano, here and now._ Ahsoka joined the traffic flow and started putting as much distance between her and 500 Republica as she could. It would take them a few minutes at least to override the lock on Riyo's door to discover the "attacked" senator. She could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage, supercharged with the rush of adrenalin. She lost track of how long she flew, going around in huge circles, trying to frustrate anyone who might be tracking her. The time flew by in a blur, until eventually she felt safe enough to think ahead of the next minute.

_Okay… so now what?_

Ahsoka pulled out the communicator and stared at the input screen. Who could she call? Padme? She couldn't help any more than Riyo could. One name came to mind, and Ahsoka seized on it. She had to concentrate to remember the number, and she typed it in to quickly for her to second guess. There was no harm in trying it, after all.

_Come on, pick up, pick up…_

A raspy, deeply annoyed voice came through.

_"__What?! Who in the hell is this?"_

The relief that filled Ahsoka was tinged with irony. "Ventress! It's me, Ahsoka. I need your help, you wouldn't believe what's happening!"


	4. Strange Allies

**-Coruscant Underworld, level 1311-**

**-Two hours after Order 66-**

* * *

The sudden noise made Asajj Ventress jump to her feet, lightsaber in hand and finger on the ignition before it registered that it was only her communicator beeping. She groaned angrily in the darkness of her hideout in the Coruscant slums. For once, Asajj had been having a good dream, one about those few years she'd been happy by the side of her rogue Jedi master on Rattatak. Whoever had interrupted it better have something damned important to say. Asajj picked up the comm and saw there was no caller ID; whoever this was had their signal masked._ I don't like mysteries,_ she thought, pressing the button to respond.

"What," she hissed. "Who the hell is this?!"

At first all she could hear was the static of wind noise, then a panicked voice answered.

_"__Ventress! It's me, Ahsoka. I need your help, you wouldn't believe what's happening!"_

Tano? What in the name of all the ancient Sith Lords could _she_ want at this hour? Asajj hadn't seen the kid since their little trip to Ilum, since the glorious day that Dooku had died. They had parted on good terms - at least she thought they had, her memory of that day was slightly hazy. _Never get that drunk again, even if all the blasted Jedi get killed. _Asajj had hoped they would never run into each other again. That's what she told herself, at least. There definitely wasn't some part of her that actually liked the stubborn little hornhead.

It wasn't like that at all.

"Try me," said Asajj.

_"__I'm running for my life again,"_ Ahsoka said.

Alright, that surprised her, but it wasn't unbelievable. "What, did another of your friends frame you for murder again?" Asajj couldn't keep a slight note of amusement out of her voice.

Tano was anything but amused. _"This is serious, you witch!"_

"What, did you _actually_ murder someone this time?" Asajj was getting intrigued now. Normally Ahsoka would react to being taunted with taunts of her own, but now she clearly didn't have time for it.

_"__No! I haven't-"_ her voice ended in a frustrated noise. _"Just listen to the bloody _Force_, Ventress!"_

_The Force?_ Asajj furrowed her brow. What was Tano on about? Well, there was only one way to find out. She closed her eyes and tapped into the pulse of the universe, not something she made a habit of often, it was too much of a Jedi thing for her. What she felt blew her away. There had been a monumental shift in the nature of the Force itself. Tano hadn't used the adjective _bloody_ just for emphasis. The Force was bleeding, as insane as that sounded. It was in turmoil, utter chaos. The darkness that had grown steadily for the last decade had reached critical mass, and now it was blanketing everything and everyone. Whatever this was, it was much bigger than some washout Padawan.

"Tell me what's happening," Asajj said.

_"__I, th-theres-"_ Ahsoka stammered.

Asajj scowled. "Spit it out already!"

_"__They're killing the Jedi, all of them. It's the clones, they're killing them all!"_

Asajj actually recoiled in shock. The clones? "What? Why would they-"

"I don't karking know, Ventress!" Ahsoka yelled. "But the Jedi Temple is on fire, I'm looking at it right now!"

Asajj couldn't bring herself to be upset. Actually, the thought made her feel quite satisfied. She didn't exactly venerate the Jedi, to say the least. For that matter, neither did Tano anymore.

"And why do you care, exactly?"

Ahsoka's anger was so fierce that Asajj could feel it over the comm. _"They were my family, Ventress! For my entire life! I can't just forget about that, and even if I could the Republic sure isn't! They're not making an exception for me here!"_

For once, Asajj realized that she'd touched a nerve so raw it was best for her to back off.

"Alright, fine! Why are you calling me about it?"

_"__Oh I don't know, to hear you gloat about it?" _Well, she had the sarcasm back, that was a good sign. _"I need somewhere to hide from them, and you're the expert on that. And you're the only one I know that won't get themselves in trouble for helping me."_

Okay, she had a point there. It wasn't like Asajj could get in any worse standing with the Republic. She had helped Tano out once before because, as she'd told Tano's idiot of a Master, she could sympathize with betrayal. But that had been a one time thing, Asajj didn't care if Tano got herself killed by the clones this time. It wasn't like she felt some bizarre sense of attachment towards the former apprentice of one of her nemeses.

Asajj definitely didn't care about her at all.

_Damn it._

She sighed internally, giving in to the inevitable. "Alright Tano, just keep running, I'll catch up to you. Try not to die."

_"__Thank you Ventress."_

"Don't be weird about it," Asajj said.

_"__Right, I - oh kark, I've got to go!" _Asajj found herself listening to a dead line. Ahsoka had hung up. The bounty hunter stood up, pulling her helmet to her with the Force and putting it on.

_Oh, I am going to regret this so much. I just know it._ But some part of her that was less repressed than it had once been couldn't help but whisper something else.

_Ky would be proud of me._

Asajj stepped through the threshold into the dirty alleyway outside and cursed that frozen pile of rocks named Ilum. She wasn't sure if a new lightsaber was worth the absurd way that vision of her old master had made her keep doing stupid things like this, risking her life for other people.

She closed her eyes and felt outward, searching for Tano's force presence. Normally that would take a lot of doing, but talking on the comm had given her a link, and before long she felt the familiar signature that was now radiating pure fear.

And it was actually moving _closer_ to the Jedi Temple, which had now become a nexus of the Dark Side, poisoned by the slaughter she could feel happening within it's walls at that very moment.

"What part of _"try not to die"_ does she not understand?" Asajj muttered under her breath.

* * *

**-Coruscant, Jedi Temple airspace-**

_"Don't be weird about it," _Asajj said.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Right, I -" The realization that she was flying dangerously close to the Jedi Temple hit her at the same moment that a shot from a blaster cannon flew past her. "Oh kark, I've got to go!"

Ahsoka hung up on Ventress and dropped the comm. She glanced in her rearview monitor, seeing a pursuing LAAT/i gunship right on her tail. The airspeeder's built in comm crackled to life as it hailed her.

_"__Civilian airspeeder, this is restricted airspace! Prepare to land your craft immediately, or you will be fired upon!"_

Not much chance of that. Ahsoka got an idea and punched the accelerator turning directly for the Temple. Up close the sight was a thousand times more horrific, she could actually hear the screeching of blaster fire from below, and the smoke from the massive fires was filling her lungs, making her eyes sting and water. _Don't think about what's happening down there, think about where you're flying._ Blue plasma bolts streaked past her, Ahsoka's Force-assisted piloting giving her just enough reaction time to dodge them by mere centimeters. Her and her pursuer shot between two of the Temple's spires, and for a moment the smoke was blinding. She counted on it blinding the gunship too, and as they entered she pushed the craft into the redline, shooting past the Temple itself. She engaged the autopilot, grabbed the gear bag, thought a quick apology towards Riyo, and jumped.

She fell through the air for about twenty meters, slowing her descent with the Force at the last moment. She still hit the ground hard enough to make a grunt of pain escape her lips. The speeder continued on the same path until the gunship got a target lock. A missile streaked through the night, caught up, and then the airspeeder turned into a bright orange fireball, the wreckage crashing towards the ground. Ahsoka kept herself prone until she was sure that the gunship wasn't coming back, then stood up in a low crouch, taking in her surroundings. She was out in the plaza around the Temple, about three hundred meters from the building itself, on the same side as the hangar. She was between two statues of long dead Jedi Masters, their weathered stone faces staring in mute disapproval of the violence happening nearby.

_Great, nice work Ahsoka, you've stranded yourself in the most dangerous spot on the planet._ She kicked herself internally. How could she have been stupid enough to fly so close to the Temple? Did she unconcsiously have some delusion that she could actually do something to help, that somehow a failed ex-Padawan could stop this madness? _Now what? What part of "try not to die" don't you get? _Well, wallowing in self-pity wouldn't get her took in her surroundings, trying to find a safe escape route. Nothing stood out. The statues could give cover, but beyond them the plaza was a wide open space, a killing field. _Alright, calm down. Maybe there's something below-_

_Ahsoka! Save me!_

She tensed up in surprise. That wasn't her own thought, someone was trying to connect with her through the Force, their presence barely brushing up against her for just a second. Someone was alive!

_Anakin? Is that you?!_ She tried to think the hopeful thought back to the other presence. Whoever they were, they had a Force bond with her, but despite her first hope it was far too weak a link to be Anakin. For a moment she was afraid it had lost her, but then it came back stronger than the first time, a pure beacon of light shining in the darkness around it.

_Help!_

There were emotions attached to it this time. Pain, exhaustion, terror, desperation. Whoever it was, they were in the middle of a fight for their lives. And they had chosen her to reach out to, she had been the one they thought of to protect them. Along with the emotions, Ahsoka got a sense of where to find the presence.

And that showed her how to get out of her current predicament.

Ahsoka grinned. The other person had saved her, now she had to return the favor,

_I'm coming,_ she tried to reassure them, but she wasn't sure they heard. Whether that was due to distraction, inexperience, or -

_No._ They were _not_ dead. She couldn't do anything to stop this massacre, but now she knew she could save someone. She would not fail. Ahsoka looked around, making sure she was unnoticed, then sprinted down the row of statues. She stopped at the fourth one down, the one she recognized as the ancient Human master Satele Shan, dropping to the ground again. Ahsoka crawled to a spot in front of it and felt around the edges. Yes, there were grooves in the pavement, a rounded square about a meter in diameter. It was a hatch, cleverly disguised as just another tile. There was no obvious release mechanism, but knowing the Temple architects, Ahsoka had an idea of where it was. She closed her eyes and felt the hatch through the Force, feeling how all it's mechanisms meshed together. _Ah, there it is._ The release was embedded inside the hatch itself; it could only be opened with the Force. A slight _twist_ with her mind, and the hatch popped open. Ahsoka wasted no time in dropping down it.

She found herself in a tunnel that stretched longer than she could see in both directions, lit by dim blue lighting that gave everything a soothing hue. It wasn't exactly enough to calm the mind in this sort of situation, but it was the thought that counted. She decided it must be some kind of evacuation tunnel, she had certainly never seen it in her years at the Temple. _Not like they ever told you anything,_ a dark thought crossed her mind. Ahsoka ignored it and closed the hatch back with a flick of her wrist, the last thing she wanted was for clones to follow her down.

_I might have to kill them…_

Ahsoka quashed the thought as soon as it formed. No need to think about that until it happened. She tried to remember which way the distress call had come from. It quickly came to her, and thankfully it was the direction that led away from the Temple. No more time to waste, she sprinted down the tunnel, hoping she would get there in time.

* * *

**Thank you for your reviews! Any ideas on who contacted Ahsoka?**


	5. A Test of Strength

**Thanks for the feedback! I'm not planning on any shipping in here guys, just so you know. I've never done romance before, so it would be horrific, haha.**

* * *

**-Coruscant, near the Jedi Temple-**

**-Five minutes earlier-**

* * *

_Deflect. Parry. Slash. Deflect. Stab._ Those were the only thoughts that Katooni could focus on. When the attack had begun her thoughts had been all over the place, wondering what could have made the clone troopers who stood by the Jedi's side for all these years turn on them so suddenly. Then she had seen _him_, and what he did. Ever since then it had been survival, pure and simple. _Deflect. Parry. Slash. Deflect. Stab._

A clone trooper's yelp of pain sliced through the air as Katooni deflected his blaster shot back into him. _Don't think about what you're doing. There is no death, there is the Force. There is no death, there is the Force, don't think about what happened to them, there is no death, there is the Force._ She spotted a clone aiming at the back of one of her fellow survivors, the Twi'lek apprentice whose name she didn't know. She shouted a warning, and he turned around just in time for his emerald lightsaber to deflect the shot.

_Don't die, don't die, not you too! Don't think about them, think about what's happening now._

A Wookiee howl filled the air as a blaster bolt came close enough to singe Gungi's fur. In response the young Padawan jumped forward with a bestial roar, slashing the clones around him to pieces with his lightsaber, even grabbing and throwing some of them with the massive strength even adolescent Wookiees possessed.

_Don't die Gungi, not you too!_ Katooni ran towards the nearest clone, ducked beneath his fire, and slashed at his legs. As the trooper fell she ran her blade through his chest. It was so simple. A few hours ago she would have thought it abhorrent. She had tried to avoid killing any of the clones, until… _no no no don't remember it._ Katooni had never killed anything before that night. She was barely thirteen years old, only officially a Padawan for less than a week. She had only been promoted now that the war was winding down, she was supposed to join her new Master Aayla Secura once Felucia had fallen. They had barely even met each other yet. _Don't think about Master Aayla, don't think about if she's still alive. Focus on now._ She wasn't supposed to be in combat, this nightmare she couldn't wake from. Katooni had seen more death in the last few hours than she had thought she'd see in a lifetime. She reflected another blaster shot through a clone's helmet, and he fell without making a sound.

Katooni had _caused _more death in the last few hours than she had thought she would in a lifetime. She couldn't even feel it anymore, the principle of non-attachment was so easy when nearly everyone she cared about was already dead.

_There is no death, there is the Force!  
_  
Ever since the beginning of the horror that had descended on the Temple, she had run. Run for her life, tried to save herself and the others with her. She had thought she was running on Florrum, but that was a pleasant afternoon's stroll compared to this. She had thought she was invincible, all of them had. Now they were - _no no no don't think about it no!_ She had run so far and so long, she had passed exhaustion somewhere around an hour ago. Now the Force seemed to be the only thing that kept her standing. And in all likelihood, it wouldn't for much longer.

The escape tunnel ran into the sewers, but as they neared the end the clones had been waiting for them. _He_ must have known about this route, known to place troops here to kill any survivors. Now they were making their final stand in this large box of a room. The clones had blown through the ceiling of the tunnel behind them, and now they were surrounded. The four of them had cut down what had to be dozens of clones, but it wasn't enough. The dim blue lighting was shot through with the bright blue flashes of the clone's lasers, two brilliant blue blades and two brilliant green blades. It was like a dozen strobe lights flashing in her eyes constantly, she could barely focus. A group of three decided to focus their fire on her now, and as Katooni desperately deflected their shots she realized that she wasn't going to be able to stop them all.

_There is no death, there is no death, there is the Force, there is the-_

"PADAWAN, DOWN!"

Katooni obeyed the command instantly and dropped flat on her stomach. A red-and-white blur shot ahead of her, blue lightsaber spinning faster than the eye could follow. The trio of clones were dead before they knew what had hit them, fallen at the hands of the woman who had shown them the way out of the Temple. The master who was the only reason any of the three apprentices were still alive. The master moved again, this time to cover Gungi. Katooni sprang back to her feet, rejoining the battle they would inevitably lose, despite the clones' heavy losses. Every time they tried to focus fire on one of the younglings, they found themselves facing the only one of them with real combat experience.

It took more than a few men with blasters to take down Jedi Master Shaak Ti.

But even she was not invincible. Hours of constant fighting had exhausted her, she was getting slower, more of the deadly bolts were making near-misses on the younglings. Master Ti had been forced into a one-handed grip ever since she'd been wounded on the upper left arm back in the Temple, and she had suffered her own share of near-misses since then; her tunic was as singed, blackened, and torn as the rest of them. It was only a matter of time before she went down, and then the rest of them would be slaughtered.

As if to underscore the point, at that moment a blaster bolt slipped by her defences and tore through Katooni's right shin, burning all the way through. She screamed in pain, the worst she had ever felt, and her leg buckled under her weight. She twisted and fell roughly on her side, barely able to keep a hold on her lightsaber. It felt like her leg was in the core of a star, there were tendrils of fire shooting along her nerves.

"NO!" Shaak Ti jumped in front of her, keeping the clones at bay from her wounded charge. "Gungi! Jinx! Get on the other side of her!"  
Now Katooni was surrounded, this time by her friends, some of the only ones who remained. She held her lightsaber out weakly, but there was little she could do to help from the ground.

For the first time in that awful, awful night, Katooni found herself crying. The tears ran down her face in a torrent, her choking sobs drowned out by the roar of battle. This was it, she knew. This was the end. She was going to be shot to death in a sewer at the age of thirteen. She'd never know what it was like to learn under her Master, to be Knighted, to take an apprentice of her own. While before she had forced herself to think only of survival, now her thoughts flashed through all the times she had felt safe. She latched onto one memory in particular, when Ahsoka Tano had protected her and her friends from Hondo Ohnaka and General Grievous. That made for a better final thought. At least Ahsoka would live through this catastrophe; the Togruta padawan left the Order months ago on the day Katooni's lightsaber class was interrupted by a live demonstration. At the time she had silently rooted for Skywalker, reasoning that the Jedi using red lightsabers had to be the fallen one.

Now she knew that an azure lightsaber could do just as much evil as a crimson one.

Now she wished that Barriss Offee's blade had found its mark.

Another blaster bolt hit the metal floor right next to her head, making her flinch and drop her lightsaber. As it's blade winked out of existence, she was sure she would never see it's light again. Her vision was blurring; she was barely staying conscious. With what she was sure would be her last thoughts, she found herself focusing fully on the memory of Ahsoka, desperately hoping against all logic that the former Padawan would save her the way she had on the _Crucible_ and Florrum.

_Ahsoka! Save me!  
_  
Against all odds, she heard a reply.

_Anakin? Is that you?!_ It was Ahsoka's voice inside her head. Katooni's shock turned into a bubbling rage greater than she had ever felt before. _Him?! She wants to save him?! _Katooni forced herself to move over the anger, she had to get Ahsoka's attention again.  
_  
Help!_

She thought the word with all of her willpower, directing all of her focus towards the Force presence she had brushed up against. She put everything she had into the thought, every ounce of strength she had left, all of her fear and pain and grief.

The last thing she heard before her vision faded to black was Ahsoka's voice again.

_I'm coming._

* * *

-Present-

It couldn't be much farther. Ahsoka was hearing sounds echo down the tunnel, and they were getting louder as she ran. They sounded suspiciously like blaster fire and death, and she was disturbed to find herself hoping it was the death of the clones. It was turning into that kind of day. Around the next bend she could see the reflections of the blue flashes of light that had once meant she was safe, and now meant mortal danger. She was almost there, she was so close…

When she ran around the bend she saw it. A score of clone troopers with their back turned to her, firing down the hall. They had blown a gaping hole in the durasteel ceiling and dropped down it, trapping their prey in the room beyond. Between gaps in white plastoid armor, she could see the flash of lightsabers. Their armor was marked with stripes of dark blue. Those were _her_ men! The 501st Legion, men she had served with, eaten with, joked with, and mourned with for two and a half years. And now she was going to fight them. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. _Don't think about any of that right now._ The smartest thing to do would be to charge in and cut as many of them down as possible before they new she was there, but she couldn't consider it for more than a second. Even if it not doing it got her killed, the idea just seemed wrong.

She cast her poncho to the side - it would only get in the way now - and drew her lightsaber, the emerald blade springing to life with its familiar sound. Taking a deep breath, she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Hey boys! You miss me?!"

The clones at the back turned around with the precision she had once trusted to save her life. If they had any reaction to their former Commander's appearance, they didn't show it. She had to twist and dodge, her saber a green whirlwind as it deflected every shot that came her way._I take it that's a no._ Ahsoka hurled a tidal wave of the Force ahead of her and the company of troopers were sent flying into each other. It didn't matter who stood in her way now, she was going to get to whichever Jedi were in that room. Now she charged forward and gave herself to the battle, in close quarters against a lightsaber they stood no chance. There were no thoughts about what she was doing, in that moment she wasn't even Ahsoka Tano. Her identity, her fears and hesitations, all of them fell away. The Force flowed through her, she _was_ the Force, and the Force was her. With the clones in the tunnel now focused on the newcomer, the trap fell apart. The other Jedi were free to deal with the enemies on their other flank. It wasn't long before the last man in the tunnel fell, Ahsoka's lightsaber rammed through his gut. She didn't spare a moment's thought to what she had done before running into the room to see who she had reunited with. There would be time for regret later.


	6. Reunion

**-Two and a half hours after Order 66-**

* * *

Shaak Ti had never heard a sound as relieving as that of a another lightsaber igniting somewhere down the tunnel. Whoever owned it shouted something that she couldn't understand over the cacophony of blasters, but it made most of the clones on that side turn their attention to the newcomer. Seizing the chance, Shaak Ti called out to the two Padawans who remained standing.

"You two, stay over Katooni!" And then once again, the veteran Jedi master charged. Not having to watch her back anymore, she could get up close to the clones, something that they had no defense against. They fell before her, limbs flying and long gashes smoking. It was terrible, but it had to be done. Before long the last enemy had fallen, and the only sound in the room was the humming of four lightsabers. Before Ti could turn and thank the mystery Jedi, the younglings recognized their savior. Gungi's howl of joy was so loud that she almost didn't hear Jinx shouting the Jedi's name.

"Ahsoka!"

Startled, Shaak Ti turned and saw they were right. Ahsoka Tano stood among a pile of white-armored corpses at the entrance to what had previously been a death trap, an emerald-bladed lightsaber held reverse in her hand. The young Togruta looked almost exactly the same as the last time Ti had seen her, when she looked down at her despondent form as the Padawan was banished from the Order. Shaak had felt uneasy even before the truth of her innocence came out, and now her guilt over their actions came flooding back. For Ahsoka's credit, her own injustice was plainly the last thing on her mind. Her face was lit up, the joy at finding them alive overpowering whatever pain she felt. The four of them deactivated their weapons at almost the same time, and they all let out a collective sigh of relief and exhaustion.

"Padawan Tano," Shaak Ti said without thinking, and instantly regretted it. A look of annoyance flashed over Ahsoka's face, and Shaak didn't need the Force to know what she was thinking.

_Not anymore, thanks to you._

But the look was fleeting, and Ahsoka was over it immediately. Before she could speak she was nearly knocked over by an overjoyed Wookiee. Gungi wrapped his arms around her, lifting her clear off the ground in the kind of hug only Wookiees could give as he howled in joy.

"I-" _cough_ "-I'm happy to see you t-" _cough_ "-too, you big f-" _cough_ "-furball!" Gungi put her back down, looking ready to explode from happiness, a far cry from how he'd been just a minute before. She turned towards Jinx. "I knew you'd make it, Jinx! If you survived Wasskah then you can survive anything." The Twi'lek forced a smile that contrasted with the mournful look in his eyes. Ahsoka's own smile gave way to a puzzled expression as she took a good look at each of them.

"It couldn't have been any of-"

A low moan brought each of their attentions to Katooni's prone form.  
"Katooni!" Ahsoka yelled, running to her side. All of them crouched around the injured Tholothian girl, whose eyelids opened with great effort. Shaak noticed that the Padawan's headdress had disappeared sometime during their flight; she'd been so focused on escaping that the sight of Katooni's uncovered brown hair hadn't registered.

"Ahsoka..." she muttered. "Am I dead, or are you really here?"

The younger Togruta blinked back tears. "Yes, it's really me. I heard you, I came as fast as I could. Don't worry, you'll be alright, you'll see!" Ahsoka clutched Katooni's hand with both of hers. Katooni smiled faintly, then fell unconscious again.

"Unless you happen to have a bacta tank in that bag, we may still be in trouble," Jinx spoke up. Shaak agreed with him, though she thought it was good to see that Ahsoka's arrival had somewhat restored his personality. Ahsoka flashed him a grin.

"It turns out I do have a medpack in here." She pulled the rucksack off her back and removed a small white box, offering it to Shaak. "Here Master Ti, you should patch her up."

Shaak nodded and began working on Katooni's leg injury. She saw Katooni had sprained her ankle when she fell, but thankfully the blaster had missed the bone and major arteries. A few days in a healing trance and she'd be back to normal. _If any of us can be back to normal after today._ Shaak Ti was a Jedi Master, she could deal with death and adversity, even as much as this. In the past she'd dealt with the deaths of both of her Padawan learners along with so many others. But the younglings were much more fragile than her in many ways, and she had no idea how Ahsoka was holding up.

Ahsoka rummaged through the sack some more. "Any of you hungry? Thirsty? I've got some food in here."

Jinx shrugged. "I don't have much of an appetite, but I've learned to take food when I can get it." Ahsoka nodded and handed him a canteen and a protein bar. Shaak's thoughts went to him while she worked on Katooni. He was doing better than the others, his experiences on Wasskah had hardened him towards death long ago. But she was still worried about him. Shaak feared that whatever innocence or idealism had survived the Trandoshan hunting parties had been thoroughly eradicated that night.

"I fear that would have ended quite differently if you hadn't shown up, Ahsoka," Shaak Ti said. "Though I am curious as to how you found us?"

Gungi punctuated her question with his own inquisitive roar.

Ahsoka sighed and knelt on the floor. Shaak Ti could see she had gone through her own ordeal that night; there was pain in her eyes far beyond her years.  
"I'd explain my whole story, but I don't think we have the time," she began. Shaak Ti had to agree. "I was nearby, and Katooni here reached out to me through the Force somehow." Ahsoka smiled down at the unconscious youngling.

Master Ti was shocked that Katooni could contact someone through the Force at such a young age until she remembered that Ahsoka had been with her at the infamous last Gathering on Ilum. They must have developed a latent Force-bond with each other that Katooni had instinctively used, reaching through it in her time of need. It wasn't unheard of.

Ahsoka got a rather disturbed look. "Master Ti, what happened? What could have caused this? Who could have _done_ this?!" There was a slight touch of venom in her voice with the last question.

It was a good thing Shaak Ti could keep her emotions from showing on her face and that Ahsoka couldn't see Jinx and Gungi exchange an uncomfortable glance with each other. _That_ piece of information would have to be broken to Ahsoka _very_ carefully.

Thankfully, she was almost done patching up Katooni. "I'll explain everything to you when we can rest," Shaak Ti said as she secured the bacta patch around Katooni's leg. "Like you said, we need to keep moving for now."

Ahsoka grimaced. "Right. You know, you've got a nasty blaster wound on your arm there, you should put something on it too." Thankfully the lighting was too dim for her to notice the way Shaak Ti froze. "I'm going to seal that hole so we don't get more surprises from behind." Ahsoka stood up and walked off, her gaze pointedly avoiding all the corpses she stepped over.

It was a good thing Ahsoka hadn't looked at her arm closely enough to see that it wasn't a _blaster_ wound at all. Shaak didn't want to explain to her right now how she had come to be slashed by a lightsaber. Jinx looked at Ahsoka's retreating form nervously, then looked back at Shaak Ti and began a conspiratorial whisper.

"Master, how are we going to tell her?" Gungi added his own mournful groan.

"Let me worry about that, young ones," Shaak Ti said in a low voice. "For now, we have to focus on making it out of here. And she's right, Jinx, could you help me bind up this wound?"

Jinx took another bacta patch and moved around to the offered arm. Tearing away the already torn sleeve of her tunic, she heard him mutter to himself.  
"Don't want her to take a closer look at that…"

Shaak Ti cut him off curtly. "Yes, Initiate, thank you. Now, like I said, _don't talk about it_. It will be difficult for her to come to terms with Skywalker's betrayal."  
Jinx snorted at that, but made no further comment. Even so, Shaak could tell the three of them were all thinking the same thing.

_Understatement of the century._

* * *

Satisfied that it would take some time for the clones to cut through her makeshift welding of debris, Ahsoka clipped her lightsaber back to her belt. Anakin had taught her long ago that a lightsaber would work as a substitute plasma torch in a pinch. _He's alive, he's too resourceful to die. She_ re-entered the room that now served as a tomb for the unfortunate clones. _Don't think about that until you're in the clear,_ Ahsoka told herself. It sure wasn't easy. She saw that Jinx was putting Shaak Ti's arm in a sling. If the clones had been good enough to get a shot past Shaak Ti's defences, how many others had been less fortunate? _Don't think about it. Don't wonder where Petro is, or Ganodi, or Byph, or Zatt or O-Mer. Don't wonder about the Jedi spread through the galaxy._

_Don't worry about Anakin. He's fine, he just has something blocking our connection._

It was so hard not to just curl up on the ground in a terrified ball. Instead she thought about how lucky they were that Shaak Ti was still alive. Having a Jedi Master in the group gave them a much better chance, and she knew that Jinx, Gungi and Katooni were all completely brilliant.

Ahsoka cleared her throat. "So where does this tunnel lead?"

Shaak Ti pointed to the door at the far end of the room with her good arm. "It connects to the sewers behind that door, and they end at one of the sinkholes that lead to the Underworld."

"Yeah, I've got experience with those," Ahsoka muttered to herself. Shaak Ti's montrals must have picked it up, because she grimaced in recognition of the reference. "So that's where we're headed then," Ahsoka asked.

Ti nodded. "Yes, beyond there…" She shrugged. "We'll have to see where the Force takes us."

Which was Jedi-Master-speak for _I have no kriffing idea_, but it was better than nothing. _I should probably tell Asajj where to meet us,_ she thought, then groaned. _Oh she is _not _going to be happy about this._ Ahsoka ignored Shaak Ti's curious look and took the communicator from its spot on her belt, dialing Asajj's code.

"Hey, it's Ahsoka, how are things on your end?" She heard a lot of wind noise over the comm before Asajj replied.

_"__Probably better than they are on yours. I've picked up a speeder, now would it kill you to tell me where I'm going?"  
_  
"Unless you've been in a firefight too, you'd be right about that. I need you to meet us at one of the sinkholes that go into the Underworld, number-" Ahsoka looked at Shaak Ti expectantly.

"C-328," said the Jedi.

"C-328," Ahsoka continued. "A sewage pipe near the surface." Ahsoka frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, _'__picked up'_?"

_"__Do you really want to know?"_

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "No, I guess I don't."

_"__I'll be there."_ There was a pause as something Ahsoka had said clicked in her head. _"__What do you mean, _'us'_?"_

"Did I say us? I don't think I did." Ahsoka smirked to herself.

_"__Fine, be that way. I'll see you there."_ Asajj hung up.

Ahsoka replaced the comm on her belt and looked to see all three Jedi were staring at her with very curious expressions on their faces.  
Jinx was the first to speak up. "And that was…?" Gungi cocked his head to the side, and if Shaak Ti had an eyebrow, it would be raised. _Oh, they aren't going to like this either._

"It's a… partner of mine," Ahsoka said carefully. "She's going to pick us up at the end." The others kept looking at her and an awkward silence descended over them.

Shaak Ti broke it. "And who is this mystery friend of yours?"

Ahsoka ignored the question and started repacking her bag. "Just trust me, alright? We can talk about it later, we need to get moving." Ahsoka strapped the bag to her back and moved past them. "Gungi, do you think you can carry Katooni?"

The Wookiee youngling roared an affirmative and bent down to scoop the girl up. He barely even seemed to notice her weight, she looked even smaller and frailer in his furry embrace. _Hang in there, kiddo.  
_  
"Alright then," Shaak Ti said. "Let's move on." She gave Ahsoka an odd look, then led them quickly to the far end of the room. Beyond the last few corpses - _don't look at them_- was a sewer tunnel. Ahsoka ignored the smell and followed the Jedi Master in, looking back to make sure Katooni was still safe. Ahsoka walked next to Shaak Ti at the front, Jinx bringing up the rear and Gungi carrying Katooni in the middle.

"I can't see a blasted thing in here," Jinx muttered to himself, barely audible. Ahsoka's hearing picked it up though, and she drew her lightsaber. The soft green glow lit up the darkness, casting an eerie sheen on everything around them.

"Better?" Ahsoka glanced over her shoulder.

Jinx looked rather sheepish. "Yeah."

Ahsoka noticed Shaak Ti looking at the ignited lightsaber hilt curiously. "Where did you get that lightsaber?" Judging from her grim expression, Master Ti assumed she had taken it from a fallen former comrade.

"It's mine. I built it," Ahsoka said, slightly annoyed. Ti blinked in surprise.

"Very well," the older Togruta said, looking ahead. Ahsoka was surprised she was leaving it at that, she'd expected further questioning. _I guess she really is trusting me, _Ahsoka thought. It almost made her smile, despite everything else.

_Sure, _now _she trusts you,_ a dark, sarcastic voice whispered in her head. _Now she needs you. Where was that trust back in the Chamber of Judgement?_ Ahsoka looked down at the floor, watching the dark waters flow ahead in a shallow trickle. Damn it, she was _not_ going to be petty enough to be bitter towards Shaak Ti now! After what they had been through, was she was going to hold a grudge over something that, honestly, had probably been their only real option? Sure, they could have tried a little harder, stalled Tarkin longer, or at least explained their reasoning to her. But it wasn't important now, and Ahsoka resolved to forget about it. _Think about something else._ Her mind had decided that she must suffer somehow though, so she couldn't help but think about the clones she had just killed. Ahsoka had taken lives before - quite a few actually, more than she cared to admit. But never had she done anything like the massacre she'd inflicted back in that tunnel. She could barely remember anything specific, it was all a blur. That part of it just scared her.

"Ahsoka, are you alright? Pay attention to where you're going," Shaak Ti's voice cut into her thoughts. Ahsoka looked up, startled, to find that she had gone down the wrong turn of a junction.

"Sorry," she said, embarrassed. "I was just thinking…" The lightsaber blade wavered as the hilt shook in her hands slightly. "Everyone I killed back there, I probably knew a lot of them."

"And you probably knew a lot of the people _they_ killed," Jinx said angrily. Shaak Ti shot him a look.

"Calm down, Jinx. Ahsoka was with the 501st for most of the war, and we should be regretful for anyone we have to kill," the Jedi Master lectured. Jinx sighed, but made no further comment.

"Not that they seemed to care," Ahsoka muttered. "It's like they didn't even recognize me."

A moment later there was a soft thump and a startled cry from Gungi. Ahsoka turned around to see that Shaak Ti had stopped in her tracks, eyes wide, the blue markings on her lekku deathly pale. Gungi had walked right into her.

"Master!" Ahsoka said. "What is it?" _No no no no, don't do this to me now!_

"Maybe she's having a vision or something," Jinx said. "Can you hear us?"

Master Ti whispered something, a word so faint that Ahsoka barely heard, and it took her a moment to understand it.

_Fives.  
_  
"Fives?" Ahsoka repeated it, confused. The way she'd said it made it sound like a name. The ARC trooper assigned to the 501st? "What about him?"

"He knew," Shaak Ti whispered, seemingly not hearing her. "He was right, and none of us listened…"

Ahsoka reached out a hand and touched her tentatively on the shoulder. "Master Ti, stay with us, we need you right now. Alright? What did Fives know?"

"Everything," she whispered, then snapped out of it, looking around like she didn't know where she was. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dropped out on you all like that. Ahsoka's words made me remember something." Shaak Ti started walking forward again. "I'll explain everything later, don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Ahsoka couldn't help but worry. What had gotten into Shaak Ti? She looked at Gungi and Jinx, who could only shrug. They were just as confused as her.

"Alright then," Ahsoka said uncertainly, following after Ti. Now she could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel, and could barely make out the shape of a speeder parked down there. _Oh kriff, this will be hard._ Ahsoka quickened her pace, overtaking Shaak Ti.

"I, uh, should probably take point. Since I've got the light and all," she said, her casualness failing to hide the nervous tone in her voice. "Just hang in there, we're almost out."

"So this friend of yours," Shaak Ti began, now fully recovered from her odd reaction. Great, Ahsoka had hoped to come up with how to tell them on the way, now she had to do it on the spot-

"Asajj Ventress, I presume?"

Ahsoka stumbled, then whipped her head around to look at her. "Wha - how did you know?"

Ahsoka heard Gungi and Jinx's startled cries, but kept her eyes on Shaak Ti's serene face.

"Call it an educated guess. The side of your conversation that I heard felt… adversarial, but not seriously so. I remembered that she helped you before, and even before that she rescued Master Kenobi from Darth Maul and his brother. Then there was how nervous and defensive you got when the subject of your partner came up." Shaak Ti gave a small smile. "I didn't want to press the issue, but it seemed like you weren't going to say anything until we met."

"Wait, so we're actually going along with this?" Jinx was incredulous.

Gungi grunted skeptically.

"Ahsoka seems to believe that Ventress has changed for the better," Shaak Ti said. "And I trust Ahsoka, so yes, I'll _'go along with it'_, as you put it."

Ahsoka was quite simply _floored_ that it had been this easy. Shaak Ti was going to put her life in the hands of an ex-Sith assassin who was notorious for hating Jedi? All because she trusted Ahsoka?

"I don't know what to say," she stammered out.

"How about, _this is a stupid plan?_," Jinx said.

Ahsoka turned to look at him in the eyes. "Hey, I know what I'm doing here Jinx! You trusted me on Wasskah, trust me now. Please," Ahsoka begged. Besides, Asajj _had _changed for the better.

Somewhat. A little bit. Maybe.

_I hope.  
_  
Gungi roared that of course he trusted Ahsoka, and Jinx should too. Jinx threw his arms up. "Fine, I see I'm outnumbered here. Lets trust the crazy bald woman who probably fantasizes about what happened tonight." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I'm so glad you agree," Shaak Ti deadpanned. "Ahsoka, have you told Ventress that we're with you?"

_Kriff.  
_  
"Uh, no, I haven't." The end of the tunnel was getting a lot closer now, and it was light enough that Ahsoka shut off her lightsaber.

"Oh. Well then," Shaak Ti said. "This should be quite interesting."


	7. Desperate Threats

**-Sinkhole C-328, Temple Precinct, Coruscant-**

**-Three hours after Order 66-**

* * *

_About time she showed up_, Asajj thought, spotting the distant glow of a green lightsaber making it's way down the sewer pipe. For about the hundredth time that night she asked herself why she was going to all this effort on Tano's behalf, but to be honest with herself, it was only a token protest at this point. She hadn't even put that much effort into it, she'd only _acquired_ a battered airspeeder from a pair of lowlifes who had made the mistake of underestimating her and flown it up here. Asajj glanced around, keeping an eye out for any military craft, but luckily so far there was only the usual air traffic, great lumbering cargo ships making the long descent to the slums or desperately climbing their way back up. She impatiently tapped a finger on the console and glanced down the sewer pipe again. Ahsoka was close enough now that she had shut off her lightsaber, no longer needing its light to guide her way. She could just make out the expression on her face - along with her companions.

_Companions. _Asajj did a double take, then muttered some choice Huttese curses under her breath. Her suspicion had been right, that stupid, idealistic little hornhead brat had gone and rescued some Jedi who had been stubborn enough not to die. Scowling, she pulled off her helmet and rose out of the worn pilot's chair, leaping over the small gap to the filthy edge of the waste port. She kept one hand on the lightsaber at her belt. Ahsoka came forward alone, an apologetic look on her face. It looked like there were three other's staying back in the shadows, two of which were very short.

"Hey Ventress, good to see you, it's been a crazy night," Ahsoka started, giving her best attempt at a grin.

Asajj cut her off before she could go into whatever little speech she'd prepared. "Save it, you lying hornhead _sleemo_. I take it that little detour you made through the Temple airspace wasn't an accident?"

Ahsoka raised her hands in mock defense. "Hey, I got shot down, It wasn't my fault!"

"Right, and I suppose the crowd of Jedi behind you isn't your fault either?" Asajj pushed past the girl before she could answer. "Alright, you Jedi scum, come out where I can see you. What has _Snips_ here dragged in with her?" The nickname got the response the insults hadn't, she heard Tano inhale sharply. _I guess Skywalker's the only one who gets to call her that._ Asajj filed that away for the next time Tano annoyed her.

Asajj's lightsaber was out in a flash as the three Jedi came towards her, the golden blade making the tunnel look like it was bathed in daylight. One of the short ones, a Twi'lek kid, jumped into a defensive stance with his own inert lightsaber gripped in his hands. The miniature Wookiee - Asajj didn't know they made Wookiee Jedi - growled low, clutching the bundle in his arms closer. On a closer look Asajj realized the bundle was actually another Jedi kid, a Human girl who had passed out from her wounds. The Togruta woman in the center didn't even flinch.

"Is that really necessary, Ventress?" The woman gestured at Asajj's lightsaber. Despite her left arm being in a makeshift sling, and the soot, scratches and bruises that covered her ruddy skin from head to toe, the Jedi radiated a calm, commanding presence. She wasn't the least bit intimidated of the notorious Jedi killer in front of her.

There was only one Jedi this one could be.

"Unless you want to talk in the dark, _Shaak Ti_." She said the name like it was an insult, then fixed her gaze on the Twi'lek who had the sense to be suspicious. "You're not doing yourself any favors, tail-head. Put it up."

The kid didn't budge until Shaak Ti shot him a look, then he reluctantly hooked the saber to his belt.

Ahsoka tried to walk around Asajj, but before she got past Ventress had grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her up against the grimy wall, making sure to keep her blade well away so the Twi'lek didn't do something he'd regret.

"You know Tano," she began, getting up in her face, almost shouting to be heard over the Wookiee's angry wailing. "I can understand you rescuing the younglings, what with that hero complex you've got going on. But Shaak Ti?!" She pointed her lightsaber at where the Jedi Master stood, not taking her eyes off Tano. "Did you forget the time that _schutta_ threw you into the sarlacc pit?!"

Ahsoka returned her glare at the same intensity. "No, I remember _exactly_ how she threw me into the sarlacc pit. I'm not going to do the same thing to her now!"

There was that infuriating idealism again. Asajj let go of Tano with snort of disgust and backed away. "You know, I thought that between Jedi backstabbing you and then getting themselves massacred, that just maybe you'd grown a brain between those horns of yours," she shouted. "Turns out I was wrong!"

Ahsoka walked around her, still staring her down, stopping defensively in front of her Jedi friends. "You know, I thought that between the Sith stabbing you in the back and Grievous wiping out all your Nightsister friends that you might have grown a heart in there." She actually bared her teeth, resembling some angry predator. "Guess I was wrong too."

For just a second, Asajj seriously considered ramming her lightsaber between Tano's jaws. "Don't you go there," she hissed.

Now Tano actually looked _enraged_, not even trying to hide it. Her voice was acidic, bubbling over. "What, that slaughter is unspeakable when you're mocking the one that's happening right now? I don't think so Ventress!" Ahsoka dropped a hand to her own lightsaber hilt. "I'm getting these kids out of here whether you like it or not! I've kept them alive this long, and anyone who stands between their lives and me isn't going to be standing for long!" By the end of it she was shouting.

Asajj was so surprised she actually took a step back. A long silence fell over them, the only sound the mournful whispering of the wind. The implied threat hung in the air.

Then it was shattered by her laughter.

"Did you actually just threaten to _kill me? _In _cold blood?_" She laughed again before she went on. "Looks like I was wrong about you again Tano! You've always been a spitfire, but I never thought you had the stomach for murder!"

Ahsoka's anger was deflating, her lekku stripes darkening in shame. Asajj turned her head and sneered at Ti. "You hear that, Master Jedi? How's it feel knowing you drove her to such _dark_ thoughts?"

If Ahsoka had surprised her, then Ti nearly made her die of shock. "Honestly, at this point I'm inclined to agree with her. I've spilled enough blood for the sake of these younglings tonight, but I won't let that stop me if it comes to that. Especially not you of all people."

Asajj took a good look at each of their faces. Ahsoka was shamed a bit by Asajj's immoral approval, but she definitely intended to follow through on her threat if she had to. The blasted council member was unreadable, but her hand hovered an inch away from her weapon. The Twi'lek kid was still trying to drill a hole through her with his eyes, and the Wookiee was, well, a Wookiee. Even at his short stature he didn't have to try to be intimidating. The wounded girl shifted in his arms, groaning weakly.

She could take them. It would be easy. And yet… Asajj took in the fierce look on Tano's face. She had to know that she didn't have a chance against Asajj, but Ahsoka just didn't care.

Asajj hadn't had a chance against the Separatist army on Dathomir, but that hadn't stopped her from trying to save her new family.

Ky Narec hadn't had a chance on his own against the warlords of Rattatak, but it hadn't stopped him from trying to save its people. From saving _her.  
_  
She could take them. But…

She didn't want to.

Asajj shut off her lightsaber. "You know what Tano, fine. I'll humor you for that little outburst." She pointed at the speeder idling behind her, smiling tersely. "All of you get in before I change my mind." Without waiting for their responses she turned around and took a long jump forward, landing in the pilot seat. Tano climbed in next to her, while Ti and the two kids crammed themselves in the back, laying their limp companion across their laps. Once they were all strapped in Asajj gunned it, pulling a turn that would make most pilots spin out of control and flying nearly straight down the kilometers-deep shaft.

"Hey Ventress," Ahsoka shouted over the wind noise and the younglings' alarmed shouting. "Thanks for this."

"Shut your hole before you change my mind again," Asajj yelled back. _I knew I was going to regret this.  
_

* * *

**-Coruscant Underworld, level 1311-**

**-Five hours after Order 66-**

* * *

Asajj landed the speeder in the dingy alleyway that ran next to the abandoned apartment building she had made her hideout in. The craft sank on its ancient repulsorlifts as though in relief.

"Wake up and follow me." She scanned the dimly lit street for anyone else while she walked towards the building's entrance. "Come on, hurry up!" She thought she spotted a shadow moving at the alley's dead end, behind a heap of refuse. The dilapidated door got stuck halfway open, so Asajj moved it the rest of the way with the Force. She let the gang of strays go through the threshold ahead of her, keeping her eyes on the end of the alley. Asajj walked in, sealing the entry back behind her.

"Quickly now," she said, rushing ahead to climb the cracked duracrete stairs to the second floor. The few dim lights that worked were flickering in protest of their existance. The Jedi followed her silently, and Asajj grabbed Tano by the arm as she passed. "Third door on the right, it's locked but that shouldn't stop you. I'll be right back, I've got to take care of something."

Not waiting for her response, Ventress strode briskly over to the window at the end of the hall. She jumped through, the glass panes having long ago been shattered, landing on an air-recycler jutting out from the building across the street. Scanning the few beings that were passing through, she found her would-be spy. A Rodian, walking away at a brisk pace, trying so hard to be inconspicuous that he stuck out to her as though he were a bantha. Asajj jumped from platform to platform, a blur in the night. Before long the Rodian had turned down another deserted, dingy alleyway.

She grinned to herself. _Last mistake you'll ever make._

She jumped to a catwalk running above it, then dropped down just as he passed beneath her, delivering a Force-enhanced kick between his shoulder-blades. The Rodian went sprawling with a yelp of surprise, while Asajj turned her momentum into a roll and came gracefully to her feet. The thug was scrambling to his feet, attempting to draw a blaster. Before he could Asajj had blown him back into the side of a dumpster and wrenched it out of his hand with the Force. She lifted him telekinetically into the air as the blaster went spiraling into the darkness, putting just enough pressure on his throat that he had to gasp for breath.

"Who sent you," she growled.

The Rodian yammered frantically in his native tongue.

Asajj scowled, tightening her grip slightly. "Basic. Speak it."

"Yes, yes, yes!" His arms flapped uselessly around his throat, trying to pry away the invisible hands around it. "Vodo Nash, I work for Vodo Nash! He told me to watch this sector!"

Asajj mulled it over. She recognized the name, that of a local information broker. She lifted him higher.

"And what information were you going to bring him?"

A dark stain was spreading on the front of the Rodian's pants. "You came back with people! I was going to tell him about them! That's all, let me go, please!"

Ventress snarled, constricting her hold enough to shut him up. _Wrong thing to say._ "You're just a petty thug working for another petty thug that thinks knowing a little about what people do in this festering stinkhole makes him important. They don't deserve to get caught by someone as pathetic as the likes of you."  
The thug tried to speak, but it came out as a tortured gurgle.

"If anyone winds up collecting the bounty on those Jedi, it's going to be me. Go and tell your master that." She twisted her wrist sharply, and an audible _crack_ reverberated through the alley as the man's neck snapped.

"Oh nevermind, I forgot you'd have to be alive for that."

She let the limp body fall into the dumpster, then turned and walked away.

* * *

When she got back to her place, she found the Jedi had settled right in. The injured kid was laid out on a moth-eaten couch while Shaak Ti knelt over her in deep concentration. _Some kind of healing technique_, Asajj decided. Ahsoka, the Wookiee and the Twi'lek had passed out on a tattered rug that gave little insulation against the cold, bare floor. They were probably too exhausted to care. Asajj locked the door behind her and walked over to the only Jedi still awake.

"She gonna be alright?" Asajj crossed her arms. The girl was in rough shape. Aside from the bandaging around what must be a blaster wound on her lower leg, she was covered in bruises and scratches. Her tunic was torn and filthy, burned from near misses, and it looked like dried blood was on it. Whether it belonged to the kid or someone else she couldn't say. If it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, she was so still that Asajj would have thought she was dead.

"I've put her in a healing trance," Ti said, not looking up. "Given a few days, she'll be back on her feet. I'm surprised you feel so concerned."

Asajj bristled at the statement, inhaling sharply. "Contrary to what you may have heard, I don't murder children for amusement. It's not her fault you abducted and brainwashed her."

Shaak Ti didn't react to the barb. "That's good to hear." She put a hand on the girls forehead and just looked at her for a moment before she stood up. "I think it's time we all got some rest. We can catch each other up in the morning."

Asajj thought rest sounded great, that's what she'd been trying to do before she got caught up in this mess. Though hearing the idea from a Jedi Master made it sound like the most idiotic thing in the galaxy. "Yeah, I think you've got some explaining to do. What in the Force did you lot do to bring the wrath of the Republic down on your thick heads?"

Ti fixed her with a steady gaze. "You have no idea. Like I said, in the morning." She bent over and laid down in front of the injured girl's couch, closing her eyes.

Asajj stayed where she was and watched her for a while. "I could just kill you all while you slept, you know," she said.

"You could," the Jedi said, not opening her eyes. "But you won't."

"I'll do what I want, Jedi. There's bound to be bounties on you all now anyway." Asajj glared at her.

"Indeed. They'll be massive," Ti said matter-of-factly, then fell silent. Asajj shook her head and walked over to where her sleeping pallet was, pushed into the far corner. She flopped onto the bed, then stripped off her boots and the bits of armor attached to her tunic.

"Her name is Katooni, by the way," Ti's voice carried across the room. She didn't have to clarify for Asajj to know she meant the wounded one.

"I didn't ask what her name was," Asajj snapped, then lay down and shut her eyes.

"But now you know it."

Asajj Ventress didn't answer, she was too busy drifting into a light sleep. _Blasted Jedi._


	8. Thunderous Applause

**Chapter 7: Thunderous Applause**

* * *

_-One Day after Order 66-_

"Are you going to sleep all day Tano?"

The raspy voice shattered Ahsoka's sleep, prompting a deep groan._ Come on Master, just five more minutes._ Then she remembered where she was and her eyes opened to see Asajj Ventress standing over her. She sat up, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep. _Out of one nightmare and into another._ She couldn't remember much of her dreams aside from a general feeling of despair surrounding her. _What else is new?  
_  
"Is it too much to hope that was a dream," she asked even though she already knew the answer. As she sat up Ahsoka looked around to take in her surroundings; last night she had been so exhausted she had fallen asleep almost as soon as she walked in. It was a one room apartment that had clearly been abandoned for some time before Asajj claimed it. The floors and walls were cracked bare duracrete save for a few old rugs like the one she'd slept on. Three couches were arranged around a low table with a holo-projector. There was a small kitchen in one corner, a refresher unit and shower head with a privacy curtain in another, and a bed that must be Asajj's in the third. There were storage crates and the general debris of life - food wrappings, bits of equipment, things she couldn't even identify - scattered haphazardly around. A boarded up window and bare white illumination completed the squatter look.

"I'm afraid it is Ahsoka," she heard Shaak Ti say. Ti was sitting at the near end of the middle couch, most of which was taken up by Katooni. The youngling was still in trance, but already most of her superficial wounds had faded. Gungi and Jinx were on the left couch, sullenly eating some of Ahsoka's provisions. They had spread the supplies on the table, so she grabbed a can of food and a water bottle. She sat down next to Jinx and Gungi, the seat rock hard beneath her.

"Yeah, I just thought I'd ask. Now can you tell me what happened?" Ahsoka took a bite out of a nugget of imitation meat she found inside.

"Oh yes, I've been waiting to hear this," Asajj said, sitting down on the couch opposite Ahsoka. She leaned back into it, putting her feet up on the table, like she was settling in to watch some kind of holo-drama. For a second Ahsoka had a vague feeling of disgust, but she ignored it and looked expectantly at Shaak Ti.

The Jedi Master took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "First I'd like to hear your story, Ahsoka. The Council knew you were staying with Senator Chuchi, but you dropped off the grid for a few months before that." She was a bit annoyed that Ti had dodged the question, but fine. The sooner they knew how she was involved with Ventress, the better.

"Alright. After I left the Order," she began, then cleared her throat. It got a slight wince out of Shaak. "I met up with Ventress here. A few months later we went on an… expedition together, right before the Separatist attack here."

Gungi growled a question.

Ahsoka glanced down at her lap before answering, anticipating their response. "Ilum."

Jinx reacted immediately. "You took her to _Ilum_? What? Why would you do that?!"

Shaak Ti remained impassive, looking at the metallic cylinder clipped to Asajj's belt. "You already know the answer to that, Jinx. There's only one reason for anyone to journey there."

Jinx's jaw dropped. "You helped her build a lightsaber? Her?! Ahsoka, do you have any idea how many Jedi she's killed?" Jinx may be a bit overly paranoid, but she couldn't blame him in this case. Said out loud, it sounded completely insane.

Ahsoka looked across at the bounty hunter, who was scowling as usual. "No, but I was almost one of those Jedi a few times over. I wanted to repay her for helping me," she said. _And some other reasons that I don't want to talk about in front of her_, she tried to communicate to Shaak Ti through the Force. If she got the message, she gave no sign of it.

"Sixteen," Asajj said. The rest of them stared at her blankly. "The number of Jedi I've killed," she elaborated. "You asked."

Jinx's hand tightened around the black-and-silver hilt in his lap, but thankfully he didn't respond to Ventress' taunt.

"Then I was with Riyo, like you said," Ahsoka moved on. "I felt the disturbance in the Force from the attack, but if it wasn't for her, I would have been killed before I knew what was happening." Ahsoka could feel her lekku swing slightly back and forth. She was trembling. "I had to make it look like I attacked her so they wouldn't kill her for helping me." She stared Shaak Ti in the eyes. "Master Ti, enough of this. What happened?"

"I'd like to know that too, honestly" Jinx spoke up. "I was just coming back from the evening meal, then all of a sudden Master Drallig was shoving a lightsaber in my hand, I'd never held anything other than a training saber before then. Next thing I knew the clones were marching up the stairs." He gave Ahsoka a nervous glance at the end - why, she had no idea. Before she could ask him about it Shaak Ti had started to talk.

"Alright, all of you deserve to know what happened."

Asajj sat forward, grinning slightly. "Oh, this should be good." Ahsoka shot her a dirty look, but stayed quiet.

"Are any of you familiar with the name _Darth Sidious_?" Shaak's voice trembled slightly as she pronounced the title.

Jinx and Gungi looked utterly lost. Ahsoka frowned. "I think so. Didn't Dooku tell Master Kenobi that was the name of a Sith Lord in the Senate?"

"He told me the same," Asajj said, looking even more intrigued. "Even saw him in a hologram a few times, not that he ever showed his face. What about him?" Comprehension dawned. "You found him, didn't you?"

Shaak Ti seemed to shrink a little, shivering at the memory. "Yes. He revealed himself to Skywalker, and Skywalker took the news to us. It was the confirmation of our worst fears, a truth so awful that none of us even thought to fear it."

"Someone close to Palpatine, I take it? He'd have to be, if he could set up all of this," Asajj said.

"Just shut up and let her talk already!" Ahsoka's voice hit a high note. Her heart had jumped into her throat at the mention of Anakin being with the Sith Lord. Asajj glared at her, but complied.

_He's alright, he's fine. Anakin can't die, he's supposed to be the one that fixes all of this!_

Shaak Ti closed her eyes and said it outright.

"Darth Sidious _is_ Chancellor Palpatine."

The words hit them like a blast from a laser cannon. Ahsoka's mouth dropped open, along with Jinx and Gungi's. Even Ventress' eyes had gone wide. She felt like the room's temperature had dropped ten degrees. It was impossible. It was absurd. It couldn't be true, but it was.

"That bastard," Asajj Ventress said, shaking her head slowly. "That complete, utter, magnificent _bastard_. I always thought he was one of the senators, but the Chancellor?! And you…" she turned her head towards Shaak Ti and scowled. "You actually fell for it! How arrogant do you have to be, how kriffing stupid were you Jedi, that you didn't even notice that you were taking orders from the Dark Lord of the Sith?!" Asajj radiated pure disgust.

Ahsoka was halfway to her feet, an angry retort forming on her lips, when Shaak Ti beat her to it.

"You're right, Ventress. Absolutely right. We were blind and arrogant and foolish, and it destroyed us all," Shaak got the distant look she'd had in the sewers. "And I might be the worst fool of us all."

Ventress was so surprised she didn't even keep up the mocking; she sat in shocked silence. Ahsoka lowered herself back down, then fell into the seat when the full implication of Sidious' identity hit her.

"But th-that w-would mean," she stammered, wrapping her arms around herself. "The war. All of it, everything. He was… Oh Force, I've talked to him, I've been in the same room as…" She wanted to vomit her breakfast back out onto the floor. Palpatine's face flashed across her mind, a mocking light in his eyes that she'd never noticed.  
_  
He was Anakin's friend. He was Anakin's friend, and he betrayed him from the beginning._

She had to concentrate to keep another face from appearing at the thought of betrayal. _Not now, Barriss.  
_  
"Yes. In the end, all of us answered to him," Ti said. "Masters Windu, Fisto, Tiin and Kolar went to arrest him. They left me, Skywalker, and Master Drallig in charge of Temple security in case they failed." She closed her eyes. "They did. None of them came back, and I felt their deaths in the Force."

"That's crazy," Asajj said. "How can someone be that powerful? He beat a third of the Jedi Council, by himself, and one of them was Mace Windu?!" She slowly shook her head again. "You never stood a chance."

Ahsoka tried to turn her thoughts into words, but her body was being extremely uncooperative.  
"What you said back in the tunnel…" she managed at last.

Ti sighed audibly. "Yes, I was coming to that. That's where I failed personally. A few months ago, just before the outer rim sieges, a clone trooper named Tup had what seemed to be a mental breakdown. He executed Master Tiplar, in the middle of battle."

Before yesterday, Ahsoka would have been shocked to hear it. Tup was her friend, but some of those men in the tunnel were too. Clone betrayal didn't faze her anymore.  
"How does Fives come into it," she asked.

Shaak Ti looked completely heartbroken. "He tried to investigate Tup's breakdown and subsequent death. He found a sort of organic chip in Tup's head had gone faulty, a chip that is in every single clone trooper. The Kaminoans assured me it was just a means to make the clones more obedient, they insisted that Fives was suffering a breakdown of his own. Now I know they were covering it up. I did what I thought was the only thing I could do to make sure Fives' concern was heard." Shaak actually clenched her fist, the most outward anger Ahsoka had ever seen from her.

"I got him an audience with the Chancellor."

Ahsoka groaned, a sound of pure heartache. Shaak Ti continued.  
"Fives tried to kill him while they were talking together privately. I thought I was saving the Chancellor's life when I ran in there to stop him. Fives fled, had an actual paranoid breakdown, and wound up being killed resisting arrest." Ahsoka could have sworn there were tears in Shaak's eyes. "I think Sidious told him the truth about everything, and it drove him mad. Who wouldn't go mad, finding out their entire life was a lie, that they were created for one purpose only - to enact the revenge of the Sith? The Clone Wars were a trap from the beginning. The chips were for obedience, that was true, but obedience for when the order went out."

Ahsoka gasped. "The Jedi on the battlefields! They would have been… oh no."

Jinx leaned forward and put his head in his hands. Gungi shouted to the unseen sky. Ventress remained silent.

"Killed before they knew what was happening," Shaak Ti finished sadly. "I doubt more than one in a hundred survived. And…" Shaak cleared her throat. "I'm afraid there's more."

"More?!" Ahsoka's voice came out much louder than she intended. Katooni shifted at the noise, but Ahsoka shouted on anyway. "What more could there be?! What else could he have done?!"

Asajj raised an eyebrow, but Shaak Ti didn't react to the vehemence in Ahsoka's tone. Instead she leaned forward and picked a device up off the table which Ahsoka instantly recognized as a Jedi beacon transceiver.  
"My beacon was damaged during the battle, I repaired it while you slept and hoped I would hear from other survivors. It only started working an hour ago, and instead of a distress call I found this." She held the screen close to her face and read out the message.

"Message from the High Council to all active Jedi Knights: The war is over. Effective immediately, all members of the Order are recalled to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant."

It took a moment for the meaning of the message to register. When it did, Gungi roared in anger.  
"Exactly what I thought, Gungi." Shaak let the beacon fall into her lap. "It's a trap meant to lure any survivors into an ambush."

"They're nothing if not thorough," Asajj murmured.

"But - we have to go back!" The others looked at Ahsoka uncertainly. "If we let that message keep broadcasting, how many more will die?"

"We can't go back," Jinx said skeptically. "It would be suicide!"

"So what, we just sit here and save ourselves?! I thought I showed you better than that, Jinx!" Ahsoka snapped at him. How could he be so selfish?! Before Jinx could retort, an urgent beeping filled the room. The Jedi all turned to look at Ventress, who was rifling through a pocket on her tunic. She pulled out a communicator, shrugged at them, and answered it.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, so make it fast," she said. The annoyance in her eyes slowly turned to interest as she listened. A few tension-wracked seconds passed, then Asajj dropped the comm next to her.

"As entertaining as this is, apparently Lord Palpatine is delivering a message to the Senate right now that we'll be interested in." She reached forward and touched a few controls on the table, and before long a hazy image resolved over the center of it. Even though the fuzziness of the cheap projector, the Chancellor's podium in the Senate chamber was immediately recognizable. Palpatine wasn't however, he was in a pause in his speech, wearing a voluminous crimson robe, the cowl pulled up and draping his face in shadow. _Looks like he's not even trying to hide it anymore, _Ahsoka thought bitterly, but all her thoughts died when he began to speak.

* * *

_"The Jedi, and some within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of Separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader. They had hoped to grind the Republic into ruin. But the hatred in their hearts could not be hidden forever. At last, there came a day when our enemies showed their true natures."_

* * *

That was not the voice of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The kindly, firm, somewhat tired voice that Ahsoka and the rest of the galaxy had come to know and trust over the last decade was gone. Palpatine's voice was raspy, deep, slimy. It oozed with the Dark Side, it was all the power and spite of a thousand years of Sith Lords embodied in a single sound. It was the voice of Ahsoka's nightmares, of every nameless fear she had ever had. The voice of darkness. Of evil. She was so consumed by the pure repulsiveness of him that she hadn't been listening to what he was saying, until his voice rose to a shout and snapped her out of it.

* * *

_"The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate. These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed,"_

* * *

- the camera zoomed in to show a close up in his face, which looked as though it had melted and aged a thousand years, while his eyes shone the sickly yellow that came with deep immersion in the dark side -

* * *

_"but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger! The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the FIRST! GALACTIC! EMPIRE! For a safe and secure society!"_

* * *

Palpatine stopped and slowly raised his arms over his head, letting the roar of applause from the Senate wash over him. They were applauding it! What was wrong with them?! Suddenly, the image cut out. Bewildered, Ahsoka wondered if they had lost power. It took a moment for her to realize she had reached out and slammed the power control with the Force, as though she subconsciously thought not seeing it would make it stop. It didn't work, she could still _feel_ him, from halfway across the planet. No one protested her shutting it off, not even Ventress. All of them sat there in a silence that seemed to stretch on for all eternity. A thought began to take shape in Ahsoka's mind. But no, it had begun to take shape when Chuchi had first told her to run, had slowly grown stronger throughout the night, until now the Chancellor's - _Emperor's_ - declaration had emboldened the thought and made it demand to be heard. But as the words escaped her lips, she realized that it had truly begun long before the night the world fell apart. The first whispers of it had started inside her nearly a year ago, when Anakin reached out his hand and offered her life back.

"Barriss was right."

* * *

**Palpatine's speech is credited to Revenge of the Sith.**

**Next chapter: Ahsoka makes an interesting decision.**


	9. Jedi Falsehoods

**Chapter 8: Jedi Falsehoods**

* * *

Ahsoka's declaration snapped the others out of their stupor, and they all turned to looked at her like she had grown a fourth lekku.

Shaak Ti was the first to find her words. "Ahsoka, what Barriss did was-"

"Horrible, yes, I know," Ahsoka cut her off. "I know that better than anyone. But she was right, she saw this was happening!" Ahsoka stood up and began pacing rapidly. "Do you remember what she said when she confessed, Master? I remember every word, I couldn't forget it if I tried."

_Which I have._

"An army fighting for the Dark Side, fallen from the light we once held so dear," Ahsoka quoted. Where Barriss had shouted indignantly, Ahsoka said the words flatly, trying to detach them from the pain they represented. It didn't work very well. "This Republic is failing. It's only a matter of time." She looked up at Shaak, holding back tears. "I'm almost glad she didn't live to see how little time it was."

Ahsoka expected Shaak Ti to reply, but instead Asajj did. "You've got a point there Tano." Ventress grimaced. "She might have been a betraying schutta that robbed me, but she had more sense in her than the rest of you. Even if it made her snap like a twig. But she's still a _dead_ betraying schutta. So why are you wasting breath on her?"

Ahsoka went back over to the couch and fell into the seat, letting all the air out of her in a deep sigh. "She was my friend. I doubt you've ever had one Ventress, but even you have to realize that I can't just forget about her, even if I want to. It's like you said Master," she gestured towards Shaak. "How could anyone find out the truth and not lose their mind? Fives lost it, Barriss lost it, I don't even know if I'm not losing it." Ahsoka felt a wetness streaking down her cheek, and raised a hand to wipe the tear away. It broke the last defense she'd had holding herself, and she started sobbing for the first time in years, her face falling into her hands while her entire body shook in tune with the raw emotion pouring out of her. She barely felt Jinx reach a comforting arm around her, or Gungi's wide hand on her shoulder.

Shaak Ti came over and kneeled beside her. "Ahsoka, I'm so sorry. You're right, if we had just payed attention to…" She choked strangely on her words, "Barriss, then she might never have fallen. But Ventress is right too, even though I wouldn't have put it so crudely. You've got to focus on what's happening now or we'll all be lost. Just let it out, and then move on." Ahsoka let the deluge continue on until she felt like she was empty inside. As the last of the tears subsided, she looked up to see Shaak's face not far from her own, compassion etched across it.

"What happened to controlling our emotions, then?" She actually managed a smile, even though the effect was ruined by her bloodshot eyes.

Shaak returned it, equally devoid of real joy. "Well, the release of emotions can take many forms." She got more serious, the empathy in her eyes giving way to sorrow. "And this ordeal has taught me that those teachings may have been too strict." The odd look was gone as quickly as it appeared, and Shaak Ti stood up. "But like I said, we need to plan our next move."

Ahsoka sat up straight, fighting off the last vestiges of despair. She was surprised to notice that there wasn't the slightest trace of mockery in Asajj's expression; the bounty hunter was pointedly not making eye contact.

"Well, like I was saying before his newly Imperial majesty interrupted us," Ahsoka began. "We've got to go to the Temple and reprogram that beacon."

Gungi moaned skeptically. Jinx sighed and continued his own argument. "I still think it sounds like a suicide mission. And don't bring up Wasskah, you know this is different."

"It may not be," Shaak mused. "It is likely that most of the troops stationed there were called away for Palpatine's _coronation_. If we moved quickly, we could sneak in without attracting notice."

"Well, I'm still not setting foot in there again," Jinx said. "Even if there's no clones, the bodies will still be there." The young Twi'lek shuddered, gripping his borrowed lightsaber tightly. "You don't understand it Ahsoka, you weren't there! Everyone else is dead. My master is dead. I didn't even see her die, but I felt it." He closed his eyes. "And so is O-Mer. I saw the clones shoot him down."

Ahsoka felt like he had kicked her in the abdomen. She had suspected all along, even if she hadn't admitted it to herself. _I'm so sorry, O-Mer. I failed you and I failed Khalifa. I couldn't keep you safe.  
_  
"It's alright Jinx, you don't have to," she said, trying to hide her newest anguish. "It would be too dangerous for you and Gungi anyway."

_You're going to live, all of you. I won't let you die._

"She's right Jinx," said Shaak Ti. "You all stay here with Katooni, I'll go."

Ahsoka looked at her skeptically. "Master, you're wounded. You're in no shape to go sneaking behind enemy lines, and Katooni needs you." The idea that the Jedi Temple was now behind enemy lines was nauseating.

"Ahsoka, you shouldn't go at all," Shaak Ti said, not unkindly. "Alone even less. I worry about how you may handle it."

Before Ahsoka could protest that she'd been on dozens of battlefields and she could handle it _easily_, Asajj surprised them all. "I'll go with her." She looked exasperated by the way they all looked at her. "What? I've always wanted to see the inside of the Jedi Temple."

Ahsoka was sure that even the unconscious Katooni could tell that it was a thin excuse. Had Asajj actually started caring, despite herself? It was what Ahsoka had hoped for since she had first partnered with her one-time enemy, but she made herself stay skeptical. This was still Asajj Ventress after all.

"Well I guess that's settled then," Ahsoka said. "Ventress and I will sneak back in, reset the beacon, and then get out of there. It'll be simple." She stood up, slinging the empty rucksack over her shoulder. She didn't know why, but she felt like she should take it.

"Ahsoka..." Jinx started to say something, but then he seemed to change his mind. "May the Force be with you."

She winked at him, hoping it came off more confident than it felt. "Don't worry about me, I'll be back before you know it." Asajj was waiting at the door now, and Ahsoka began walking towards her.

_Everyone else is dead!_ Jinx's words repeated in her mind

_My Master is dead!_

_Everyone is dead!_

She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to ask - no, Ahsoka had to _know_ what happened. She stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at Master Ti.

"Just one more thing before I go," she started uneasily. "I - I've got to know. Have you seen Anakin since this all started? Do you know what's… happened to him?"

There was a long pause before Shaak Ti answered, a pause so quiet that Ahsoka could hear her own heartbeat.

"No. I haven't seen Skywalker since before the attack," Shaak Ti looked down at Katooni as she spoke.

Ahsoka swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. "I'll find him. If anyone can survive this, he can." She turned back towards Ventress, and as she passed through the door Asajj pressed the speeder control into her hand.

"Go ahead and get the speeder warmed up," Asajj said. "I'll be along in just a minute."

* * *

As soon as the door had sealed shut behind Tano, Asajj rounded on the Jedi. "You know what Ti? You're lucky she wanted to believe you, because you're a terrible liar." She quickly closed the gap, halting right in front of the Jedi Master. "Skywalker's dead, isn't he?" As the Jedi looked up at her, Asajj didn't have to wait for an answer. It was written plainly in her dark eyes. "Pathetic. Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson."

"I've learned a more terrible lesson than you could possibly imagine," Shaak Ti said in a tone harder than iron. "Ahsoka will learn the truth about Skywalker on her own soon enough, if she goes into the Temple. But until then the hope that she can save him is the only thing that's keeping her going."

Asajj made a noise of pure disgust. "Oh yes, I'm sure she'll appreciate that bit of wisdom of yours when she finds his charred corpse. You lying schutta, she deserves better than this." Asajj hadn't meant to add the last part, and had no idea what corner of her mind it came from. Probably the same part that got her into this mess.

Ti closed her eyelids and Asajj felt a faint sense of guilt briefly slip through the Jedi's mental shields. "She does. I wish it didn't have to be this way."

_Hypocritical piece of rancor drek._ "Of course you don't," she sneered dismissively, then stormed out of the room. As much as she hated to admit it, Shaak Ti had a point. Tano worshiped Anakin Skywalker to the point that Asajj wondered if the girl wouldn't just shut down completely when she found out he was dead. She had half a mind to tell her the truth, but quickly decided not to; Tano would never believe it from her. In fact, she probably wouldn't believe it from the Jedi either. Asajj didn't care that Skywalker was dead; if anything she was a little upset she couldn't do it herself. But if she had to pull a catatonic Togruta off of his corpse, she was going to shove a lightsaber through Shaak Ti's lying teeth when she got back, what Ahsoka thought about it be damned. She might just leave Tano there to join her Master, for that matter.

Asajj walked out into the alleyway to see Ahsoka sitting in the speeder's pilot chair, attempting to project an aura of calm and failing miserably at it. Asajj strapped in next to her and Tano took off without a word. _Just see if I don't abandon her in there,_ Ventress thought as the stale Coruscant air whipped over her smooth head. She could leave Tano for dead, pilfer some artifacts that would sell on the black market, and ditch the other Jedi. She'd take that old Y-Wing into the outer rim and never look back. _Why should I care what happens to her? _she thought. Waves of anxiety rolled off the Togruta in question. Asajj looked away from her, gazing over the dilapidated cityscape. She would have sighed if she was sure Tano wouldn't overhear. _Why do I care about what happens to her?_

* * *

**Apologies for the shorter length of this one. Next chapter: Into the Temple**


	10. Homecoming

**Apologies for the long wait! More will be coming soon.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Homecoming**

Asajj was gaining a new appreciation for all the different ways a sewer could reek. The night before she hadn't gone more than a few meters inside, and had been too angry at Tano for collecting strays to even notice it. Now the Jedi dropout had been leading her through the fetid damp tunnel - which was so dark she couldn't see more than two meters ahead - for ages, and if they didn't get into the Temple soon she might start seriously considering the abandonment plan. But just as that thought hit her, Ahsoka stopped abruptly next to what looked like a maintenance access.

"Through here," she explained before Asajj could ask. Asajj followed her over to it, but Tano hesitated, her hand hovering next to the door release.

"What are you waiting for?" Asajj said. "There someone on the other side?"

"No," Ahsoka said, and Asajj thought she felt a pang of regret drift off her through the Force. Asajj was just about to open the door herself when Ahsoka slammed her hand against the control and rushed through. The lighting inside was dim, but after the near-darkness of the sewer it still took a moment for Asajj's eyes to adjust. When they did, she nearly did a double take. The room beyond was filled with the bodies of Republic clone troopers, what looked like an entire platoon and change. Ahsoka stood in a clearing in the center that was conspicuously void of corpses and though her back was turned, Asajj could tell from the trembling of her shoulders that Tano wasn't holding up well. She'd expected this for Jedi, but for _clones_?

Asajj cleared her throat. "This where you found the Jedi?"

It took a moment for Ahsoka to respond, and when she did she was struggling to keep her breathing under control. "Yeah."

If they had tried to kill her friends, why was she so torn up about their deaths? Was she that much of a bleeding-heart? "I take it you killed them?"

"The ones in the hall," Ahsoka said, forcing the words out.

Asajj walked over the dead clones to stand next to her, looking down the hallway she'd indicated. The blue lighting in there was much brighter, and she saw that the white armor of the corpses was adorned by blue markings. Blue… She tried to place which clone unit that identified, she'd definitely seen it before. When she did, she felt her gut churn.

Skywalker.

That was it: she had served with them. It wasn't just that Tano's friends had been massacred, Asajj realized: Tano's friends were massacring _each other_. If Palpatine had been there at that moment, she would have spat in his face, consequences be damned. That was more than anyone should have to go through, even a Jedi. At least when Asajj was betrayed she'd had no qualms about fighting droids. You couldn't develop camaraderie with a machine that only had two modes: kill and don't kill. It seemed like Tano just had no luck at all when it came to friends. Maybe she would learn soon that it was better not to have them...

The silence from Ahsoka was getting uncomfortable. "This the way in?" she asked, snapping her companion out of her guilt-trip.

"Yes," Ahsoka said. She abruptly started walking down it, desperate to put the scene behind her. Asajj moved to follow, but then she got an idea.

"Hold on," she said, kneeling beside one of the clones.

"What are you doing?"

Asajj worked at the latches on the armor's right gauntlet. "Getting one of their communicators. We'll be able to listen in, avoid any patrols they have inside." A few sharp tugs, and the gauntlet came loose, the dead weight of the arm thudding heavily against the ground. She slid it onto her own arm and activated the communicator. Unexpectedly, it beeped an error.

"Blast," she muttered, looking up at Tano. "This is a new feature. It's asking for his ID number."

Ahsoka took a long look at the body, her face contorting slightly as she fought back some kind of emotion.

"CT-2183," she said softly, quickly turning away from Asajj and continuing down the hall. Ventress felt herself grimace, and was unsurprised when the number turned out to be correct. She followed Tano down the corridor, configuring the comm to alert her when another active signal came within a hundred meters of them. Ahsoka was back to being silent; Asajj had been around enough Jedi before to know that she was trying to release her feelings, probably repeating some snippet of Jedi dogma in her mind that was supposed to make the pain go away. How did it go? Death isn't real, only the Force? That part of Ky's teachings had been buried so long she could hardly remember it. It didn't work anyway. Asajj had learned that after Ky died. Dead was dead. Even when the Force was playing tricks on you, showing you his face...

Asajj shut the memory out, wishing she could blast that frozen hellhole Ilum into oblivion. Damn it, she hoped they got into the Temple soon. She needed a distraction. Even if that distraction was dealing with her former enemy's emotional breakdown. If she was losing it over the clones now, she would be a basket case when they started finding dead Jedi. Especially if it was Skywalker. She hoped that he'd had the decency to die in a way that left his corpse burned beyond recognition. If Tano recognized it then Asajj might end up killing her after all, if only to put her out of her misery. And her own misery of having to listen to watch it. Maybe then she would stop feeling so infuriatingly…

_Damn, this tunnel is long._ It must be some sort of evacuation route, she decided. It didn't look very old, it must have been built after Dooku had left the Order. If he'd known about it, he would have used it somehow. Used _her_ somehow…

"How much longer is it?" she snapped.

Ahsoka looked at her with a vacant expression. "Not much. What's the hurry?"

_Oh there's only an entire planet's worth of Sidious' pawns out there hunting us down._ "I want to get this over with almost as much as you," she said. Why had she even come along on this fool's errand? She didn't give a flying kriff if more Jedi fell into the trap.

"I doubt it," she heard Tano mutter.

_Bitterness doesn't suit you, you know, _Asajj thought. She didn't say anything, and they continued in silence. Eventually, the tunnel started to angle upward steeply enough that stairs were built into it. At the top of the incline was a blast door that had sealed shut.

"There don't seem to be any controls," said Asajj. She glanced at Ahsoka, who stood hesitantly in front of the blast door.

"Normally it's inside," Ahsoka said. She ran her hand along its surface. "Found it."

Nothing happened.

Asajj crossed her arms. "You going to just stand there?"

Tano took a step back and gave her an annoyed look. "It's not working. Shaak Ti must have sealed it behind her."

"Wish I could say I was surprised that she didn't mention it," Asajj sneered. She reached down and pulled the lightsaber off her belt. "Just wait a moment."

Asajj plunged the golden blade into the door...or rather, she would have, but it refused to penetrate more than a few centimeters. She pushed harder, but the metal still stubbornly resisted the bar of plasma.

"Still waiting," Ahsoka spoke up.

Asajj pulled the saber out and glared at her, noting Tano's small smirk. She _almost_ missed the depressed version of the girl; at least she wasn't obnoxious then. "Must be cortosis or something. Looks like Jedi are better at making doors than new Jedi."

Disappointingly, Ahsoka didn't take the bait. "Let's do it manually." She raised her hands and furrowed her brow in intense concentration. "You going to help me, or what?"

Asajj followed suit, willing the door to rise. Even working together, it took them several minutes to wedge the two massive slabs of metal apart enough for them to squeeze through.

"After you," Asajj said. Ahsoka hesitated for a short moment before taking a deep breath and stepping through. Ventress was right behind her. They were in a small room that looked like it was used for storage. A few shelves had been knocked over, scattering spare parts all over the floor. The door behind them appeared to be a wall when closed; the door ahead had been blasted open; beyond it she could see the burned-out husks of starfighters - they must be next to the hangar. Her senses were assaulted by the stench of smoke, ozone, and what smelled suspiciously like charred meat.

Ahsoka already looked unnaturally pale, and they hadn't even run into any bodies yet. _Just wonderful,_ Asajj thought. _Why did I agree to this in the first place?_

She honestly didn't know, so she forced herself to forget about it. "You know the way to the archives?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka said with deceptive calm. "Just...follow me."

They hadn't gone a meter into the hangar before Ahsoka almost tripped over a clone trooper's corpse that had been slashed shoulder to hip. _Probably Ti's work, or one of the runts._ The hangar was almost impassible. Hulks of airspeeders, starfighters, even Republic military gunships were burning, and the deck was pockmarked by blast craters. The clones must have bombed it from the outside to prevent any escape from it. Through the haze of smoke, Asajj could spot a few bodies that were so badly burned she couldn't tell if they were clones or Jedi. Only the ones nearest to the wall had been unscathed - aside from being dead, of course. Ahsoka was leaning over one of them now, a Pantoran man who had been shredded by shrapnel.

"Friend of yours?" Asajj asked, not unkindly. Ahsoka looked up from the corpse, looking completely bewildered.

"He...he was one of the maintenance crew." A few indecipherable noises came out as Ahsoka's words seemed to fail her. A glint of fury began to shine in her eyes. "He wasn't even a Jedi! What did they kill him for?!"

"Will you keep your voice down?!" Asajj hissed. "Do you want to bring a legion down on us?"

Ahsoka snarled like she had when she threatened to kill her, but didn't follow it up. "Fine," she spat. "Let's go." She paused only to close the man's unseeing eyes, and started for an exit that hadn't collapsed.

_Fantastic. She keeps this up, she'll turn out like me._ Was that amusing, or just tragic?

Like so many other things lately, Asajj didn't know what to think.

* * *

**Next: Things get worse. Much worse.**


	11. Goodbye

It took longer than Asajj had expected for them to find another body that wasn't a clone. Apparently most of the Jedi had been away from their home when it was destroyed. Ahsoka was kneeling over the Jedi in question, who looked rather a lot like the maintenance worker they'd found in the hangar: light blue skin with yellow facial markings and close-cropped dark hair with a Padawan's braid on one side. Asajj guessed that he was about the same age as Ahsoka.

"His name was Tatsu Li," Ahsoka said. "He was in the same youngling clan as me, we used to study together..."

_I don't need his life story, _Asajj thought. _We don't have time for this. _But for some reason she kept quiet and watched Ahsoka close the boy's vacant eyes. Tano looked like she was about to stand up, but she seemed to change her mind at the last second. Instead she reached over and pried the lightsaber out of his right hand - which appeared to be a mechanical replacement. Tano turned the lightsaber over in her hands, studying its every detail.

"He was the first one in our group to find his lightsaber crystal," she said hoarsely. "We thought he was lucky. I was so...jealous. I thought it should have been me." Tano cringed slightly at the memory. She finally looked up and made eye contact with Asajj. "Your friend Savage took his hand off and his brother killed Tatsu's Master." She stood up, still holding the fallen Jedi's lightsaber. "And now he's dead," she said bitterly. "I think now I know what they meant when they said there was no such thing as luck."

Asajj wasn't sure if Tano expected her to say something or just listen. She didn't give a kark either way; Tatsu Li meant nothing to her. Even though she couldn't help but picture another corpse in the Jedi's place: a woman crushed beneath a Dathomirian statue.

"We should move," Asajj snapped, forcing the image out of her mind.

Ahsoka glared at her, and her free hand twitched like it had instinctively tried to curl into a fist. "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to." Tano turned away from her and stalked down the rubble-strewn hallway, stepping around her friend's body. She kept his lightsaber in her hand.

Asajj moved to follow, but something about the body gave her pause. She crouched down to get a better look. With Tano partially blocking her vision before, Asajj had assumed the wound on his upper chest was a simple blaster shot, but this was the strangest blaster wound she'd ever seen. It was less a hole and more of a gash, a deep chasm that spread across his heart. He must have been shot at from the side...but in this corridor, how would he have had his side to the enemy? They could only have been at his front or his back, unless he had been facing the wall like a complete moron. It didn't make any sense...

"I thought you were in a hurry?" Tano called back at her acidly.

Ventress returned the Togruta's equally-acidic glare. "I was just coming."

As they continued through the rubble and corpse-strewn passage. Asajj's thoughts drifted back to that wound. There was something wrong about it, she just knew it. But for the life of her, she couldn't place it. It was maddening, so she tried focusing on something else. The Jedi were gone. Finished. Dead! She should be celebrating, like she had the day Dooku died. She should be happy, or as close as she ever got to it. But everything about it just felt wrong. This place was meant to house ten thousand beings, and now it was utterly silent. Instead of smug satisfaction, she felt downright anxious. Everything about it had her on edge. Wind mournfully whistling through a shattered window sent a chill down her spine, the distant sound of rubble hitting the stone floor made her every muscle tense, even Tano's uneven breathing grated on her nerves. Asajj wasn't one for superstition - she had inwardly scoffed at some of the Nightsisters' more arcane rituals - but despite that one thing was growing clear.

The Jedi Temple felt downright haunted.

She couldn't celebrate this, she realized as she followed Tano around an intersection and spotted another dead Jedi. Watching the ex-Jedi react to her horrifying loss just made it hit way too close to home.

She would have laughed at the irony, except she suspected Tano would try to murder her for it. As she got closer she noticed a glimpse of brown robes and reddish skin; there was a second Jedi. The body had been buried under so many dead clones that they had made a morbid plastoid-armored cairn concealing it from view. Tano had knelt over the other, a woman of a green-skinned humanoid species that Asajj didn't recognize. Ahsoka was visibly trembling this time, and Ventress almost thought she was about to lose it.

But it turned out she was tougher than Asajj gave her credit for. Without another word she picked up the Jedi's lightsaber, pulled her free arm out of her backpack's strap, swung it around, and deliberately placed the weapon inside it. Asajj assumed the first Jedi's blade was already inside.

Asajj raised an eyebrow. "Starting a collection?"

Ahsoka glared at her again, but it seemed weaker, like some of the fire had gone out of her. "Palpatine will probably melt them down for scrap or something if I left them here," she said glumly. "I'd burn the bodies too if we had time."

Asajj bent over and reached between the armored bodies, feeling around for a few seconds until her fingers closed around a familiarly-sized cylinder. She pulled the lightsaber free and offered it to Ahsoka.

Her Togruta eyebrow markings shot up in surprise, and Ahsoka seemed hesitant to take it from her.

"Just take it already," Asajj snapped at her. This was why she didn't do nice things.

Tano listened, practically grabbing it from her. She looked it over briefly before placing it in the bag. "Thanks. Do you think you could help me move some of these?" She gestured at the pile that the lightsaber had come from. "I couldn't tell whose it was."

Asajj shrugged and started lifting bodies - and parts of bodies - off with the Force, tossing them off to the side. With the two of them working together - Ahsoka taking much more care with the clone bodies than Asajj - it took less than a minute to uncover the Jedi. She was a Mon Calamari, beyond that Asajj had no idea who she was.

Ahsoka on the other hand was wincing painfully. "She was Jinx's master."

Asajj's confusion must have showed, because after a moment Ahsoka added: "The Twi'lek that came with me."

Ah. The kid had said something about losing his master, she remembered. Before she could help herself, the image of Ky's body leaped into her mind's eye. The Mon Cal Jedi even had a blaster wound through the heart, the same way he had…

Blaster wound.

How could she have been so blind? A quick check over the Clone bodies confirmed her realization. One of them had been slashed through the heart by a lightsaber; the wound was exactly the same as the one on Tatsu Li that had vexed her so.

She'd expected to see these sorts of wounds on the clones. But when she'd seen one on a Jedi, it hadn't even registered that she was looking at a lightsaber wound.

Tatsu Li had been killed by a _lightsaber_.

She looked up at Tano, who had begun moving again. Asajj's mind was reeling with the implications as she followed. Someone with a lightsaber had led this attack, she was sure of it. But who could it have been? Palpatine himself? That idea was ludicrous. Dooku was dead, but maybe Sidious had a new apprentice? Perhaps His old one, that half-dead animal Maul? She dismissed the idea as soon as she thought of it. He wasn't likely to follow his old master after he'd left him for dead. Savage Opress was dead on Mandalore, Sora Bulq was dead on Boz Pity, and she couldn't think of a single dark-side user other than those three who was powerful enough to fill Dooku's position.

Ahsoka stopped over another Jedi, some kind of reptilian species that Asajj couldn't begin to recognize. Ahsoka said something identifying him, but Asajj was too busy checking his wounds for it to register. There was absolutely no mistaking this one; someone had brutally stabbed him in the abdomen. Tano didn't seem to notice at all. She probably didn't want to; if she paid attention to it then she would come to the same conclusion that Asajj had.

One of the Jedi had turned traitor.

Someone powerful that Palpatine had contact with before this attack. One of the masters sent to kill him? That idea was ludicrous. Sith Apprentice Windu? Fisto? Tiin? It was more likely that the attack had been led by Asajj herself while sleepwalking than one of those hardasses joining with Sidious. She didn't know much about Kolar, but that meant he was probably not worthy of notice. Sidious would want someone powerful, someone more powerful than Dooku had been. Some Jedi she didn't even know the species of couldn't fit that bill. Quinlan Vos seemed a good candidate; he'd been on the Separatist side for a good part of the war anyway, not all of that darkness could have been faked…

Another dead Jedi; killed by clones, this time. This one was a Cerean - just a kid, really - who had been shot through the chest far more times than were necessary to kill him. Ahsoka paid no more attention to his wounds than she had to the others. He was dead, and she didn't need to look at the details. It was just like Shaak Ti's blatant lies about Skywalker, she would see what she wanted to-

Asajj froze mid-thought.

_ Oh hell._

* * *

Ahsoka knew she had to do this, was absolutely certain of it. The lives of however few Jedi remained depended on her success. But as she knelt over the body of O-Mer, she was beginning to wish that she'd listened to Shaak Ti and Jinx. Every time she had found one of her friends lying dead in the defiled ruins of a place she had considered sacred - still considered sacred - she felt like a part of her was ripped away forever. Part of her was back there with the body of Tatsu, with Rig Nema, with Bant Eerin, with Coleman Kcaj. Now, was leaving part of herself with O-Mer. He'd survived so much; three years in the jungles of Wasskah, hunted every single day of it. Even though Jinx had told her already that he was dead, seeing it herself was too painful for words. And looking at his inert form reminded her of when she had looked at Khalifa the same way. She'd made the girl a promise: keep the others safe. And she hadn't kept it. Jinx lived, but O-Mer, the one who had recovered a little optimism by the time they got out of there, was as dead as Khalifa herself.

Outwardly she was blank, as emotionless as a Jedi Master. It was like her body had separated itself from her mind - or even that each death numbed her to the next, until by the time she got out of here she would be an emotionless husk. Maybe it wasn't as morbid as that, maybe the Jedi in her was just coming out in force, no pun intended. They weren't dead, they were one with the Force, right? Or perhaps part of her just didn't want to show that much emotion in front of Asajj Ventress. No, that was just absurd; she cared nothing for what Ventress thought of her. Especially when Ventress herself was probably beside herself with joy at the sight of so many dead Jedi. The idea made her blood boil. At least the bog-witch was keeping it to herself now…

_ Keep your focus on the here and now,_ she heard Anakin's voice remind her from long ago. She had to move on. She gave one last, lingering touch on O-Mer's tall forehead, then with her other hand she picked up the lightsaber that lay beside him. It wasn't even his, she knew. O-Mer had never built his own and now he never would. But it was still something to remember him by, and a trophy she denied Palpatine.

She left O-Mer behind, and Ventress followed her silently. The temple corridors were in a terrible state. Blaster burns covered the walls, columns and entire hallways had collapsed, the stone floors were a maze of rubble. In her memories a skinny Togruta youngling ran through these halls when they were spotless, racing against her friends to see who could circuit the Temple the fastest. She envied that girl. That youngling thought she knew everything. One day she would be a Jedi Knight. The Jedi always stood by each other as they defended the weak. The Republic they served was a beacon of civilization in the galaxy. And both of them, the Jedi and the Republic, would always be there. She remembered something one of her instructors had said to her initiate class years ago: _"Truth enlightens the mind, but won't always bring happiness to your heart."_ She had dismissed it entirely then. Now she thought she understood it all too well…

Ahsoka almost tripped on a piece of the partially collapsed ceiling, jarring her out of the recollection. She mentally kicked herself for wallowing in self-pity. Those memories were even more bittersweet now than they had been after she left the Order; dwelling on them would lead to to worse things. She cleared the thoughts from her mind as best as she could. _Here and now._ Left at the next junction to get to the archives. Through the archives to get to communications. Modify the signal to warn everyone away.

At the next juncture she turned left, and stopped in her tracks. The corridor in front of her, the smashed windows along the left side, the rubble and smoke…

She'd seen it before. Ahsoka had seen the exact hallway before, in exactly the same state of ruin.

On Ilum.

Ahsoka felt weak at the knees. She quickly went over to one of the columns separating the windows, leaning against it for support. She had let herself forget much of that vision, she'd tried to forget it. It had seemed needlessly cruel, making her think that Barriss could be saved when she was dying at that same moment. But now she realized it had been so much more than that. The Force had shown her the future, and she was too blind to see it. Her mind added the bodies of the masters and Barriss' chained form, along with the ice and snow that had covered the dream-version, everything the real thing lacked. Everything except for the disturbing, terrifying vision of Anakin that had been part of the vision, the part that made no sense at all. She thought that the Force must hate her, to show her that. She must have defied its will by leaving the Jedi; she had been meant to die here, beside her master…

No! Anakin was not dead! She would have felt it, she hadn't felt it, he was still alive somewhere! She shoved aside the doubt that plagued her, the whisper that maybe she had felt his death when she had collapsed helplessly in Chuchi's apartment. He was not dead, and wherever he was in the galaxy, she would find him!

"What's wrong?" Ventress asked beside her. The way she looked at Ahsoka, she was almost convinced that Ventress was actually worried about her. Like that could ever happen.

"Nothing," Ahsoka lied. "I just needed a moment. It's not much farther."

Ventress looked highly skeptical, but rather than argue she nodded. "If you say so."

Ahsoka took a steadying breath, and as she stood up straight and began moving forward again, she couldn't help but glance out of the window. Outside and down a level was the meditation area that had been one of her favorite spots in the Temple. The enclosed courtyard and the ancient tree that dominated it was surprisingly untouched by the destruction. She paid it no mind, and continued down the corridor. But something drew her gaze back to it, but she looked away again too quickly to see anything else. Focus on the task at hand.

Just put one foot in front of the other.

The corridor was quite long, and she couldn't run down it for fear of tripping or attracting attention. Ventress' clone communicator was still silent, but that could change at any moment.

She glanced out the window, again looking away before she saw anything else.

_ Task at hand. Here and now.  
_  
Her willpower failed her; she looked again. This time she couldn't have torn her gaze away if her life depended on it.

There were bodies down there.

She had stopped walking completely now, and her body moved closer to the shattered window even as her mind screamed at her to run away.

They weren't very large bodies.

She was dimly aware of Ventress asking her something, but all of her attention was focused on one of the bodies, one that lay completely out in the open, face down.

Her stomach turned to lead. That wasn't who she thought it was, it couldn't be.

_No._

She was outside on the terrace now, running towards it.

_Oh Force, no._

Ventress' swearing and footsteps behind her went completely over her head, all she heard was her own heart racing.

_No no no no no no!  
_  
She jumped down into the courtyard and the edges of her vision blurred as she sprinted towards the center where the body lay, heedless of the risk a patrol would spot her.

_ No no no no no no!_

The back of his head was covered by short, black hair, and his skin was the color of light copper.

_Please don't please don't please don't!_

She reached the body and turned it over, staring into the lifeless green eyes.

Ahsoka wanted to scream to the sky above, she wanted to scream so loud that they would hear her on the other side of Coruscant.

It was Petro.

She looked around frantically, and everything she saw only made it worse.

Zatt was lying against the tree itself, his solid black eyes drilling into her. She looked away, only to see Ganodi lying only a few meters from her, head turned away. She turned away, and saw Byph's corpse near the entrance into the Temple. In the doorway itself was a figure that took her far too long to recognize in her gut-wrenching terror.

Tera Sinube.

Now she found herself staring down at Petro again. She was petrified, she couldn't move.

_Why?_

The simple thought appeared in her head, its small voice echoing through her. _Why?_

"Tano!" Asajj hissed from behind her. "What the hell are you doing?!"

She didn't answer. She couldn't make her mouth work. She was just...empty. She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad. She was empty.

"Tano!"

There was nothing left for her to give, nothing left of her that the Sith's triumph over the galaxy could take away. She felt as dead on the inside as any of the bodies around her.

"We can't stay in the open like this!"

They were just kids…

"If you don't snap out of it, I'm leaving you here!"

She should have been here.

"Ahsoka!"

She should have died with the rest of them, she had abandoned them, she was the worst Jedi, the worst person in the galaxy-

"I'm...sorry," Ventress said uncertainly.

That got Ahsoka's attention. She stared at her, her mind gone blank with shock.

"No you're not," Ahsoka said. It wasn't accusing or angry, she was just stating a fact. "You don't care." This time there was some venom in her words, but she still felt oddly calm. The words came out of her on their own accord, she had no control of them. "You came with me so you could laugh at this. That's the only reason you're helping any of us. You want to watch us suffer. You might as well still be a Sith, you're no better than them."

She felt a sharp pain on her cheek and the next thing she knew she was on the ground. Her side smacked heavily against the granite floor. She sat up quickly, turning around to stare at Ventress. One of her hands went up to where Ventress had hit her, she could feel the skin inflaming beneath her touch.

"You know _nothing_!" Ventress looked almost as shocked at her own sincerity as Ahsoka was. "You don't know anything about me, Tano! I know what you're going through! I know exactly what you're thinking right now! Because that's my life, Ahsoka! I get ripped away from the people I care about, and they all die! Every single Force-damned time! That's what I do, I lose people! That's who I am! You'll find out someday now, that when you've gone through that, watching it happen to other people," she hesitated, like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

After a moment she forced it out. "It's like it's happening to you all over again. Even if I despise the Jedi, even if they were a bunch of self-righteous, hypocritical bastards, this-" she gestured around them, "-is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen, and I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I'd let you sit here grieving for the Jedi all damn day, but if you do that then you're going to join them by the end of it, and for some Force-forsaken reason that I don't even know I actually care about it!"

Ahsoka didn't know what to say. What was someone supposed to say when Asajj Ventress showed you inside herself? What had happened to the galaxy, that this situation was even possible?

Ventress plainly couldn't believe what she'd said either. "Look," she said uncomfortably, trying to regain her usual attitude. "Let's go reset this beacon of yours." She awkwardly extended her hand. Ahsoka stared at it for a moment before she realized that Ventress was trying to help her up.

Ahsoka took the hand, and Ventress pulled her up. "I'm sorry," Ahsoka said, but Ventress cut her off.

"Don't." Just like that, the window was closed.

Ahsoka reached down and closed Petro's eyes, taking his lightsaber and holding it in front of her. He had wanted to accomplish so much with it…

"Goodbye, Petro," she said, dropping her backpack on the ground and placing it inside. She carried it with her over to Ganodi, picking up the Rodian girl's weapon.

"Goodbye, Ganodi."

She went around to each of them, repeating the process.

"Goodbye, Zatt."

"Goodbye, Byph."

"Goodbye, Master Sinube."

She would remember them all, it was the only thing that she could do now. The backpack was heavy when she put it back on.

"Let's finish this," Ahsoka said. She didn't look back.


	12. Casualty Report

The archives were in a better state than Ahsoka had expected. There was the same blaster scarring and shattered rubble that filled the rest of the Temple, but most of the holobooks were intact. Parts of it were so well-preserved that she almost expected to run into Jocasta Nu updating a database, or a bored Initiate on guard duty taking a quick nap when they thought nobody was looking.

The only Jedi she did find were dead, of course. She came across eight that she was barely acquainted with, and judging from how they had fallen they must have attempted to destroy the archives rather than let them fall into the hands of the Sith. Unfortunately, they had failed…or maybe it _was_ fortunate, Ahsoka thought. She was beginning to form an idea, but filed it away for after they had reset the beacon. She had to keep track of which row she was in, the last thing she wanted was to get lost in here,

"What the hell is this?" Asajj blurted out suddenly. Ahsoka looked over her shoulder to see what had startled her. Ventress had stopped next to one of the few busts of the Lost Twenty that remained standing. It was one of the newer ones, its features still sharply defined as those of an older, bearded human man. Asajj looked at it like it was obscene, her familiar scowl on at full force.

Ahsoka stepped over, reading the inscription beneath it aloud. "Jedi Master Yan Dooku. Apprenticed to Grand Master Yoda. Former member of the High Council. Master of Conradin Hadranus, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Komari Vosa. Left the Order in good standing in the year nine-hundred sixty-eight after the Ruusan Reformation due to disagreements with the Jedi Council, taking up his family title of Count of Serenno. May the Force be with him." She could have almost recited that inscription from memory; she had polished these busts countless times as a youngling as punishment for some misbehavior.

Ventress' scowl deepened. "I can read what it says, Tano. What is it doing _here_?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "He was a Jedi Master once, they put it in when he left."

Ventress only looked more incredulous. "Sorry, what is it _still _doing here?"

"It's to remember the Jedi that he used to be, not the man he became. They only remove these if the Jedi rejoins the Order." It had never happened, to her knowledge. It wasn't a decision made lightly - she knew that better than most. "He's not the only Sith Lord with a bust in here." Ventress' befuddlement was almost enough to put a smile on her face. Almost, but not enough.

Ventress considered it for a moment, then shoved Dooku's bust off its pedestal, slowing its fall with the Force at the last second so a clang didn't echo throughout the Temple. Asajj smirked at it as it slid spinning across the floor.

"Do you have one of those in here?" Ventress turned her smirk on Ahsoka.

Ahsoka actually laughed this time, though it was short and somewhat bitter. "Oh no, those are only for Masters who leave the Order. There's only ever been twenty."

Asajj scowled once again. "Of course they are," she muttered darkly under her breath.

Ahsoka ignored her companion's latest grudge against the Jedi, trying to avoid thinking about it. She wasn't very successful. _Jedi Master Ahsoka Tano_…that had been her dream once. Instead she was a dropout who didn't even make Knight, and because of that she was one of the few who were still alive. If they did give busts in the archives to Padawans who left the Order, what would her's say? _Ahsoka Tano. Apprenticed to Anakin Skywalker, accomplished little, left the Order out of childish self-pity_, a critical thought drifted through her mind. Wearily, she shut it out. This was the last time or place to reflect on why she had done it.

They found another body along the way to the beacon who Ahsoka knew well. Jocasta Nu looked as peaceful in death as she had in life, even with her body tossed carelessly between two data towers. Ahsoka fought against recalling any more painful memories as she picked up Master Jocasta's lightsaber and put it away. What was one more friend to say goodbye to, after all she had already seen?

"Goodbye, Madame Jocasta," she whispered.

She was about to move away when she felt a tremor that stopped her. She looked back down at Jocasta and heard a strange sound that was eerily musical.

"Do you hear that?" Ahsoka asked.

Ventress looked at her in confusion. "No?"

Ahsoka crouched down, and the sound intensified. As it got louder she realized that she had heard it before, on the frozen world where she had gotten the crystals for all three of the lightsabers she'd wielded. She felt through Master Nu's pockets, slightly guilty at the violation of her corpse. The guilt vanished when her hand brushed against a small, hard object. Ahsoka pulled it out and held it in the light.

Ventress stepped over to get a look at it. "What's that?"

It was similar to a lightsaber crystal, but it was smaller and shaped more regularly. "It's a holocron crystal," Ahsoka said. "It carries data on it that can only be read with one of the holocrons."

Her earlier idea began to grow. Ahsoka pocketed the crystal and motioned for Ventress to follow, which she did without comment. Beacon first. It took them another ten minutes or so to reach it - even with the advanced data-compression that the archives possessed, they were still physically massive. They entered the room housing the beacon, the soft blue light of the archive data towers giving way to the sickly green glow of the data room. The path narrowed considerably; this area was normally off-limits to all but maintenance crew. The only way in was a narrow corridor between two massive data towers.

Ahsoka hadn't been in here in years, so it took her some time to find the controls. When they did, a series of red "active" lights were flashing urgently.

"Here it is," Ahsoka said, taking the chair in front of it. She tapped the console and read its readout, trying to find how exactly she could reprogram the beacon. As a Padawan, she'd never been trained on it. Maybe she should have let Shaak Ti come instead, she would have known how. And maybe it would have saved her all of that heartache…

But the first thing that appeared on the screen was not at all what Ahsoka had expected.

* * *

_BEACON STATUS: ACTIVE_

_LAST MODIFIED: TODAY, 0806 STANDARD HOURS_

_MODIFIED BY: KENOBI, OBI-WAN_

* * *

Ahsoka glanced at the chrono. That had only been about two hours ago! Her breath caught in her chest and she pulled up the message that the beacon now broadcast.

* * *

_THIS IS OBI-WAN KENOBI_

_REPUBLIC FORCES HAVE BEEN TURNED AGAINST THE JEDI_

_AVOID CORUSCANT, AVOID DETECTION._

_STAY STRONG._

_MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU._

* * *

She motioned Ventress over, a feeling of excitement briefly overpowering her emotional void. "Look at this! Someone got here before us!"

Ventress read it quickly, and her eyes widened in surprise. Asajj gave a short laugh. "I should've known Kenobi would make it," she said, smirking. "That man is too stubborn to die. Think he's still around here?"

Ahsoka stared at the screen, burning the simple words of warning into her memory. "I doubt it." Obi-Wan wouldn't want to stay here any more than she did. He would follow his own advice and get as far away from Coruscant as possible. And even if she never saw him again, just knowing that Obi-Wan was alive made hope stir inside her. If two members of the Council had made it, why not more? Why not Plo Koon, why not Yoda? Wherever Obi-Wan Kenobi had gone to avoid detection, they would never find him.

Maybe he'd gone to look for Anakin.

Ahsoka forced her imagination to stop. There was no use in getting her hopes up, only for them to be dashed again. She'd thought those kids would be alive too…

Ahsoka inhaled sharply. _Stop it, _she scolded herself.

Mercifully, Ventress interrupted her thoughts. "So this was just a giant waste of time?" She half-smirked, half-scowled at the terminal.

"Not entirely," Ahsoka said, standing up from the console. "I've got an idea."

"Oh, this should be good." Ventress raised an eyebrow.

Ahsoka ignored her and continued. "If I can get into the holocron vault, I can use that crystal to copy some of the archives onto one. Maybe I can save something of the Jedi from being destroyed by the Empire."

Asajj scratched her chin. "I'm not sure why you'd want to," she said. The response on Ahsoka's face to _that_ was enough to make her quickly add: "But I don't care what you want to do, go ahead. You know where they keep those things."

Ahsoka glared a few seconds longer before she let herself relax. "Okay, it won't take long." She was a few meters down the path back before she realized Ventress was not following her. She stopped and looked over her shoulder to see that Ventress was sitting at the security terminal.

"Ventress?"

Asajj waved her hand dismissively without looking up. "Go take care of it, I want to check on something."

Ahsoka thought about asking, but something made her decide it was better not to. She left the data room and began double-timing it to the Holocron vault.

* * *

Asajj pulled up the security records and played the last night's footage of the archives, backing it up until she saw a sequence that made her slam the pause button and swear a blue streak under her breath. Tano had been right after all, then. Anakin Skywalker _was_ alive. He stood in front of her, in miniature translucent blue, skewering the older Jedi woman whose body they had passed on his lightsaber.

This was bad. No, this was worse than bad, this was the worst case scenario. Of all the Jedi who could have defected, it had to be the one that had so much raw power that some idiot Jedi had actually thought he was created by the Force itself. And there was no mistaking it, Skywalker had fully embraced the Dark Side of the Force. His face was a mask of volcanic fury, and he didn't hesitate to kill once.

As she watched more of the recordings to see if Skywalker still had weaknesses to exploit, she realized that Sidious himself might not be able to stand against his new apprentice. Skywalker was a whirlwind of destruction that tore through the Jedi like they were paper. All but a handful of the fights were over in seconds. A woman wielding two green lightsabers nearly decapitated him once before Skywalker brought a column down on her, but nobody else even came close to touching him. She saw a duel between him and a long-haired human who put up the best fight, but even he was quickly overwhelmed and killed. Watching Skywalker slash through the Jedi's shoulder, Asajj had to admit that he would rip her apart now that he had become a Lord of the Sith. He had killed nearly a hundred Jedi in a matter of hours and hadn't even broken a sweat. They weren't exactly the elite of the Jedi, but it was still a stunning feat.

A third Jedi had been able to stand her ground against him, and the sight of it filled Asajj with fury.

_Lying schutta!  
_  
Shaak Ti barely managed to escape from him, his weapon opening a gash on her arm in the process. Recalling the Jedi's words, she realized that Ti had never said Anakin was dead - as if she somehow thought that meant she wasn't lying about his fate. Typical Jedi. When she got back there, she was going to give the lying Master a piece of her mind…

Asajj froze as the feed switched to the courtyard outside, filled with living Jedi apprentices. She slammed the control to switch cameras as soon as she saw Skywalker enter the frame.

_ Damn it Skywalker, what the hell is wrong with you?_

* * *

Studying his berserker tactics closer, she thought that maybe a real master of the blade could outlast Skywalker's onslaught until he did something stupid - the Dark Side couldn't have helped his intellect. But there were only a handful who had anything near a hope, and most of them were likely dead. To think that she had dreaded Ahsoka's reaction to finding Skywalker _dead_. If they found him _alive…_. Well, Tano wouldn't have long to be upset. Asajj knew what using the Dark Side like that did to someone - he would kill Tano without a second thought.

What was that noise? Asajj looked up suddenly only for comprehension to dawn on her. Oh hell. Groaning, she looked down again. Her stolen communicator was beeping urgently; there were clones nearby. She shut off the security feed and unclipped her lightsaber, leaving it deactivated for now. As she ran back towards the Archives, distant blaster fire echoed down the halls. Asajj swore and ran in its direction. What had Tano stepped in this time?

Ahsoka left the holocron vault, clutching the intricate crystalline cube in her hands. Surprisingly, they had all still been inside. The Empire must think they had as much time as they wanted to plunder the Temple, Ahsoka decided. She had no doubt that the new Emperor would suppress all knowledge of the Jedi that he could. She was going to deny him this one, make sure that some of the Jedi's teachings survived. Ahsoka wasn't sure why she had picked this one in particular; it had just felt right, somehow.

Blame the Force. It told her which Holocron to take, but it wouldn't lift a finger to help those who'd died here. Or show that blasted vision to someone who could understand it. Someone who could have done something about it. Yoda, Obi-Wan, Anakin, anyone but her. Ahsoka found a terminal that still worked and practically fell into the chair, her legs giving out beneath her. Getting angry at the Force was like yelling at the wind - the epitome of futility.

There was a slot in the computer where the crystal could be placed; she inserted it and began downloading information. Its capacity was not infinite, so she kept it as barebones as possible. Jedi history, basic meditation techniques, lightsaber forms, that sort of thing. There was a good chance that most of it was already on the holocron, but she wasn't going to bet on it. Before long it was done, yet Ahsoka found herself unable to move. She stared blankly at the screen, a compulsion slowly working its way up from the depths of her mind.

She had to know.

Ahsoka logged into the GAR Personnel records. Her own username and password had been deactivated when she resigned her commission, but she remembered seeing another's one day on the _Resolute_, years ago.

* * *

_USERNAME: CT-7567_

_PASSWORD: TORRENT501_

* * *

It still worked. _Thanks, Rex old buddy. I hope you're doing alright out there. _Ahsoka ignored her mental image of Rex's body mangled by a Jedi's lightsaber and navigated to the Jedi database. Her heart sank when she saw the number of active profiles. _257. _Out of an Order numbering over ten thousand Jedi, that was how many had survived. Gulping, she pulled up the list of the survivors.

* * *

_GRAND MASTER YODA - MIA KASHYYYK_

_HIGH GENERAL KENOBI, OBI-WAN - MIA UTAPAU_

_HIGH GENERAL TI, SHAAK - MIA CORUSCANT_

* * *

That was all that remained of the Jedi Council. Yoda's survival was good news, but Ahsoka felt a tear slide down her face. _Goodbye, Master Plo._ She had never said that to him in life, she'd been too angry at him for not doing more to support her. Ahsoka was almost glad she hadn't, fearful of what she might have said to him. She would never get a chance to mend her relationship with the man who was the closest thing to a father she had ever had. He had been her mentor, the one who she could ask any question she had, the Master who would never judge her. If she asked his advice now he would tell her not to mourn him, only to remember and move on. So she did just that.

* * *

_GENERAL UNDULI, LUMINARA - MIA KASHYYYK_

* * *

Ahsoka felt an inexplicable surge of anger at Luminara Unduli that she was immediately ashamed of. She should have been happy to see the Mirialan master alive. Or at the least, she should have felt sorry for her. Ahsoka had been so wrapped up in her own pain at the betrayal that she'd never stopped to consider what Luminara must have felt, Jedi Master or not. Luminara couldn't have done anything to stop it; Barriss had chosen her own path. She had to believe that. Shuddering, she moved on. GENERAL CHOI, TSUI - MIA KASHYYYK

That made for three survivors from Kashyyyk. Had the clones of Kashyyyk refused to follow the order? From what Shaak Ti had said, that was impossible. Maybe the Wookiees had aided them in escaping. She wished more planets out there were as Jedi-friendly as the homeworld of the great hairy giants, then maybe this travesty would never have been allowed to happen.

* * *

_GENERAL K'KRUHK - MIA BOGDEN 3_

_GENERAL KOTA, RAHM - MIA KOTHLIS_

_GENERAL HETT, A'SHARAD - MIA SALEUCAMI_

_GENERAL IT'KLA, YLENIC - MIA CAAMAS_

_GENERAL RAHN, QU - MIA SY MYRTH_

_GENERAL SHRYNE, ROAN - MIA MURKHANA_

_GENERAL CHATAK, BOL - MIA MURKHANA_

* * *

She skimmed down the rest of the list of Jedi who she barely knew, searching desperately for the one name that she needed to be on it. But as Masters gave way to Knights and Padawans, he was nowhere to be found.

* * *

_COMMANDER DUME, CALEB - MIA CORUSCANT_

* * *

That was the last entry. Maybe there was a mistake, he could have been reported dead but survived somehow, unknown to -

"No," she whispered. It was true, she knew it. Ahsoka had known it somehow since the moment this had all begun, but she had refused to admit it to herself.

Anakin Skywalker was dead.

For some reason she searched for his name anyway, knowing exactly what she would find.

* * *

_GENERAL SKYWALKER, ANAKIN - KIA CORUSCANT (OPERATION KNIGHTFALL)_

* * *

_Knightfall. _That's what they had called this. Was that supposed to be some kind of sick joke? What sort of monster could have destroyed everything she had ever known and made a joke out of it? Ahsoka was incensed, but the edge of her anger was taken off by her despair. _KIA Coruscant_. Somehow reading that was harder than seeing a body - the death of her master reduced to nothing more than a single, impersonal line of text. Killed in action. Killed in action. Killed in action. Killed in action. The phrase kept echoing in her mind. Anakin was lying somewhere within this ruin, killed by his own troops. The man who was somewhere between her teacher and her older brother, the one who stood by her to the end, the Jedi who laughed in the face of death, the Hero with no Fear who feared for everyone he loved, the Chosen One whose destiny turned out to be a lie. Skyguy was gone. With a cry of frustration, Ahsoka punched the screen hard enough that it a spiderweb of cracks and made her hand throb in pain.

"Goodbye..." Ahsoka croaked out, so softly she could barely hear it. Before she could say _Anakin_,her head collapsed forward onto the console and she sobbed into it, losing track of everything but what had been ripped away from her forever. His last words to her echoed perfectly in her head.

_I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.  
_  
If only he had done it. If only he had gone with her and-

_Click._

She dove out of the chair just as the first blaster fired.


	13. More Than A Number

The Jedi dove out of the chair as he fired, the blaster bolts flashing over her head and causing the terminal to explode in a shower of sparks. She rolled once and sprung to her feet while drawing a green-bladed lightsaber. A flash of confused recognition went through the back of the Clone's mind, but his instinct beat it back down. Good soldiers followed orders. He backed away and crouched behind some rubble, pelting the Togruta with shot after shot, and signaled for the rest of his squad to open fire. Just as he'd planned, she was caught in a crossfire - even a Jedi couldn't fight that.

Or so he had thought. A bolt skimmed across her right thigh, prompting a hiss of pain, but as she reached her free hand out a silver blur shot out of a bag lying on the floor. As it landed in her hand a _snap-hiss_ was almost drowned out by the whine of a dozen deecee fifteens. Now armed with two sabers - one green, one blue - she was dodging or reflecting every shot that came her way.

The back of his mind knew that he'd seen that way of fighting before, but that was irrelevant. Good soldiers followed orders, after all. He noted that she hadn't tried to kill any of them yet, but he only let himself think of it in terms of tactics. His orders were to eliminate the Jedi, so that's what he would do. This straggler was trapped - her death was only a matter of time. Something felt vaguely wrong about that, but he wasn't sure what.

Over his helmet comm he heard a strangled cry in his own voice. His heads up display reported that one of his men had taken a direct hit. The Clone grimaced beneath his helmet. Forget waiting her out, he needed to finish this now.

Good soldiers followed orders, even if they felt vaguely wrong in a way he couldn't describe.

He pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it at her, simultaneously shouting into his comm for his men to hit the deck. The Jedi tried to jump free of it, but she was just a second too slow. Whatever barrier she had put up with the Force wasn't enough; she screamed briefly as the shockwave hit her midair and shrapnel lacerated her limbs, then the air blasted out of her lungs in a pained grunt as she landed hard on top of a table. He felt like hearing that would have made him panic once, but now he only moved in to check if she was dead.

If she lived, he would correct it. The rest of his squad moved up with him to observe the fallen Jedi. Her lightsabers had been knocked out of her hands and her tunic was in tatters; blood seeped through the gashes in it and the visible cuts on her skin. He stopped when he noticed her shift weakly; the others followed suit.

He had to do this. The clone raised one of his blasters, aiming between the two pointed montrals on her head.

It was his duty.

But before he could pull the trigger the Jedi's eyes flew open and the desperation in them gave him pause. The moment didn't last long, however. The Clone could feel the air around him crackling with power and pulled the trigger.

But he was too late. The Jedi jumped to her feet, making his shot thud harmlessly into the table. Before he could correct his aim she threw her arms outward and screamed in a bereaved rage. The Clone was thrown backward by an invisible wall of force and crashed into one of the bookcases so hard he nearly blacked out. His helmet was blown off and he lost one of his pistols, but he found he still had the other. He heard the sound of a lightsaber activating and forced himself up, raising the blaster as the Jedi ran towards him bellowing a war cry.

But she stopped mid-swing just in front of him, the humming blade so close to his neck he could feel heat. The anger had fled from her face; her eyes were wide with shock. The Jedi sighed wearily, a sound filled with a pain that had nothing to do with her wounds.

"Rex," she said breathlessly. "It had to be you, didn't it?"

Rex's blaster was still aimed at her heart but he couldn't bring himself to shoot her even with all of his instincts compelling him to.

"Ahsoka?" That was her name, Rex remembered. Flashes of memory cut through the fog of his mind, but he could feel part of himself straining against them, denying that she was anything more than an enemy.

Her eyes moved down towards his blaster. Bizarrely, she smiled at him. "So we both have the other's life in our hands, then? That almost sounds normal."

Even though she was smiling, it was unlike any smile Rex had seen on her face before. It wasn't happy or even sarcastic, and it threw him even further into confusion. She was laughing at the absurdity of the idea of the two of them killing each other, he realized after a moment. He had to focus on the memory of her, if he let up for even a second then the compulsion to kill her would overwhelm him.

"What are you doing here?" Rex found the act of simply speaking to her took all of his willpower. "You…you _left_."

He seized on that memory to fight his instincts, even though it almost felt like the memory of another man. The news that even though she had been found innocent, she was _still _lost to him and the rest of the 501st. Nobody had wanted to say anything in the barracks that night, but more than the rest Rex had been utterly heartbroken by what was done to his Commander…the Commander he had at gunpoint now. She had deserved better than that and she deserved better than this too, but knowing that didn't make him lower his arm a millimeter.

"I don't even know," Ahsoka said quietly. "Wishing I'd been here for them, I guess." She looked directly into his eyes, her own sky-blue irises looking out of place next to the raw redness surrounding them.

"Why are you here?" She asked him.

Rex took a step back, even more confused. "What? I…" He reached up with his free hand and rubbed his temples, aware of a sudden pounding headache. "Good soldiers follow orders," he mumbled absentmindedly.

Ahsoka raised a white eyebrow marking that was partly marred by red. "Really? That doesn't sound like you, Rex."

Rex stiffened at her words, and he could feel his finger start to curl around the trigger. "It's my duty," he said seemingly independent of his actual thoughts. "Order sixty-six, in the event of Jedi officers acting against..."

He let the recitation of something he had known instinctively trail off as a thought occurred to him.

"You're not a Jedi," he said. His aim began to shake as he took hold of the idea, just like it had the last time he held a Jedi at gunpoint. _Not a Jedi! It doesn't apply to her, she's not a Jedi!_

But he still couldn't lower it. What was wrong with him? Shooting Jedi had seemed like the most natural thing in the world just a minute before, but now he didn't even know what was going on anymore. It was like on Teth, when Asajj Ventress had invaded his mind, and he'd contacted General Skywalker even though he was screaming at himself not to.

"No," Ahsoka said. Her eyes looked glossy, like she was trying not to cry. "Rex, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. It's just like Fives said, you don't even know what you're doing, and now I have to..."

Rex's gaze flickered to her blade, and he knew what the unspoken end of her sentence was. That should have made him open fire before she could do it, but he still couldn't. He was at war with himself, and he almost preferred letting her end it for him to losing the battle. He was aware now, and if he killed Ahsoka Tano while he knew what he was doing, he would never be able to live with himself.

But instead of flashing through his neck, the lightsaber blade retreated into its hilt. Ahsoka stood up straight and looked him in the eye again, silently pleading for him to...what? What was she trying to say?

Rex heard a clatter and knew that she had dropped her weapon. The Jedi had always said that their lightsabers were their lives, and now Ahsoka had dropped hers at his feet.

The seconds felt like an eternity. His eyes stung as sweat dripped down from his short hair.

"Fives," he said. She had mentioned Fives. Fives, who had talked to him as a friend after Ahsoka had left. Fives, who was killed by a brother for a reason he knew was a lie now. "The mission...the nightmares...he was talking about this..."

"This isn't you, Rex." Ahsoka had thrown her life into his hands out of despair, he could see in the way she looked at him. There was only one thing he could do with it, but he refused with every fiber of his being.

"They want me to kill you, but..." Rex struggled to control himself as his head threatened to split apart under the strain of his rebellion. That blasted chip, the secret that Fives and Tup had died for, it wasn't going to kill Ahsoka too!

His blaster rose unsteadily, until he beat the instinct just long enough to swing it towards his own head.

"I won't!" He yelled, rejoicing in his victory.

Ahsoka rushed toward him. "Rex, don't-"

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

Ventress heard an explosion and swore again, increasing her pace. If she had stopped to think about it she might have turned the other way and left Tano to her fate like she had threatened to all morning, but she did not stop. She vaulted over a fallen column and sped forward.

Damn it, if anyone was going to kill Ahsoka it would be her for the girl being foolish enough to let clones get the drop on her!

Seconds later Asajj spotted her in an area that looked like a whirlwind had torn through it. Tano was leaning over the body of a clone who looked higher-ranked than the rest, and as she got closer Asajj saw that the Togruta looked like she had been through a blender. Her clothing was shredded and matted with the blood that was also smeared across her skin. Whatever explosion had torn apart this section of the archives had done a real number on her.

Ahsoka looked up as she approached, a few lines of blood marring her white facial markings. "He's alive," she said.

Asajj stopped and groaned inwardly. She had a very bad feeling about this. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ahsoka looked back down at the clone, who Asajj could tell was indeed alive. "He stunned himself. He could have killed me, but he wouldn't do it."

"Great," Asajj said. "Let's go before you start bleeding a trail for them to follow."

Ahsoka glared at her and opened her mouth to retort. Asajj cut her off.

"You can't save all of them, Tano."

"Do you think I don't know that?!" Ahsoka said with a vehemence that surprised her. "Everyone's dead, Ventress!" She looked back down at the clone. "Anakin's dead."

That revelation took her aback, though not for the reason Ahsoka would think. "Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I'm sure. You think I would say that if I thought there was a chance?" Ahsoka's voice broke at the end. "I found the list of who's alive. Anakin isn't."

Asajj watched Ahsoka look down at the unconscious clone and wondered if she should tell her. No, she quickly decided, That unenviable task would go to Shaak Ti.

"And who is this," she asked instead. "Another _friend _of yours?"

"Yes," Ahsoka said without looking at her. "His name is Rex. And I'm getting him out of here."

Asajj snorted in disgust. For all of her experience, Tano had not learned a thing. "Your funeral," she said. "I'll wait for you at the speeder, but if you want to drag the Jedi-killer out of here, do it yourself."

"Like you're any better," Ahsoka spat at her as Asajj walked away. She could hear the sound of plastoid armor scraping on the floor, and silently hoped that another squad of clones didn't come across Tano. Even if she was stupid enough to deserve it.


	14. The Nightmares

"Here's the place," Asajj said, bringing the airspeeder to a halt outside of a med clinic in an extra run-down neighborhood of Level 1309. "Make it quick."

"Alright," said Ahsoka. Ventress scowled at her and didn't move, but she hadn't expected her too. Asajj had barely spoken to her since she had dragged Rex out of the Jedi Temple, not that her opinion needed stating. Ahsoka left her lightsaber on the console - she didn't want to attract attention. She stood up and walked over to the back seat where Rex lay. Ahsoka had stripped off his armor and left it behind to make him easier to carry, so now he only wore the black bodysuit that went underneath. Even still, if Ahsoka only had to rely on her physical strength to move him she would still be carrying him through the Temple. She bent over and put a hand on his forehead, gently probing into his mind. His psyche stirred weakly at her touch, but she projected a feeling of calm into him and he settled back into unconsciousness.

_Just hang in there. _Ahsoka wrapped her arms around his torso and braced his weight against her shoulder, then pushed him up until he hung over her shoulders. Carefully she walked away from the speeder, across the narrow street, and into the clinic. The partially burned-out sign outside proclaimed the place as _Qhorin's_, and her first impression was not good. The interior was just as dilapidated as the outside. Ventress thought that this place could do what Rex needed? She wasn't sure she would trust someone here to treat a stomach ache, much less brain surgery. The bare ferrocrete walls were covered in stains and scorch marks, the origins of which she didn't want to know. One of the lights was slowly flickering and emitting a low-pitched whine, and the seats in the waiting area were nothing more than bare canvas cots. Behind the counter a lavender-skinned Twi'lek girl was dozing in her chair; Ahsoka guessed she was about the same age as herself. Ahsoka set Rex down gently on one of the cots and went over to the counter.

She cleared her throat. "Hello?"

Startled out of her nap, the girl's head shot up, then she stared wide-eyed at Ahsoka and exclaimed something in the Twi'lek language. Before Ahsoka could get another word in the receptionist flipped on an intercom. "Qhorin? Someone just came in, they look pretty bad," she said, switching to Basic.

A moment later Ahsoka heard a door slide open and she turned to see a Nautolan man with mottled orange skin running through it. He stopped in front of her and quickly looked her over with his huge dark eyes. "Bruises and skin lacerations. Dried blood. Hmm…" He rubbed his chin with one hand. "Shrapnel wounds?"

Ahsoka blinked, surprised by his forwardness. "Uh, yes but-"

"Looks recent, but healing well. Hmm. Someone jump you? No, robbers don't normally use anti-personnel grenades, and you still have your possessions. Gang attack? Can't be a gang member or you would have your own medics. A bystander? Didn't hear explosion, couldn't have been in this area. Hmm..."

The man talked so rapidly that she wasn't able to get a word in until he paused. "I'm alright, actually. I'm here for my friend." She pointed towards Rex.

The Nautolan - Qhorin, she presumed - turned his head, making his array of tentacles whip around like a startled sea creature. "Oh. Unconscious. Bad sign. Lyra, help me get him into the back."

The girl at the desk got up and ran over to Rex. Qhorin and Lyra lifted his cot from either end and began carrying him to the door that Qhorin had emerged from. Ahsoka followed them in, and was surprised to find that the room beyond was much cleaner than the entrance was. In fact, it wouldn't have looked too out of place on a Grand Army medical frigate, though the equipment wasn't as advanced as she was used to. Not to mention the handful of security droids standing around the door, which would have raised quite a few eyebrows in the GAR.

Soon, they had Rex hooked up to a scanner. "Hmm. Appears to be in perfect health. Odd. So, what happened to him?" Qhorin asked her without looking away from the readout.  
Ahsoka swallowed, unsure of how to explain. "He has this...tumor, in his brain. He needs to get it taken out."

"Tumor!" Qhorin exclaimed. "Lyra, get that droid and do a brain scan."

Lyra ran off and returned a moment later with a med droid floating behind her. Suddenly disoriented, Ahsoka leaned her back against the wall. Despite what she'd said earlier, she could probably use some medical attention. She had blocked out most of the pain and was using the few healing techniques she knew, but she was seriously regretting not getting Barriss to teach her some more when she had the chance.

Oblivious to her, Qhorin was pouring over Rex's data. "Hmm. Neurons show evidence of a close-range stun blast. Intriguing. DNA shows signs of replication degradation. Genetic therapy for previous illness? No, it's too widespread. Wait, they also have signs of...growth acceleration? Hmm. Could be. Is he a clone?" He glanced at her over his shoulder.

"Yes," Ahsoka said. "Did you find the tumor? It should look artificial, I think."

"Artificial? Now that's interesting. Hmm. Yes, here's something. An extra gland, artificially constructed out of cells. Releasing hormones not usually present in a human body. Fascinating! Appears harmless, though." He turned to look at her suspiciously. "Is he here voluntarily?"

"Yes!" Somewhat. Ahsoka stood up fully and glared at the Nautolan. "And it's not harmless, it messes with his mind! If he was awake he'd be trying to kill me!"

Qhorin absentmindedly stroked one of his head-tentacles. "Trying to kill you? That doesn't really make me feel any better about your intentions." He narrowed his eyes.

Ahsoka sighed. "Look, Rex stunned himself so he wouldn't kill me. I just want the real him back, okay?"

Qhorin's expression softened. "You seem to be telling the truth," he said. Ahsoka remembered from her interaction with Kit Fisto that Nautolans could sense pheromones. The thought of him sent a fresh pang of grief through her heart, she hoped that Palpatine had killed him painlessly.

Thankfully, Qhorin jolted her out of it. "Lyra, start prepping him, this should be a simple operation. In the mean time, I suggest you get in a tank." He gestured towards the far back of the clinic.

"Bacta?" Ahsoka groaned. She hated bacta tanks. "Oh come on, I'm fine. Just take care of Rex."

Qhorin seemed to perk up. "Kolto, actually. From Manaan. Bacta's almost impossible to get with the war on. If it hasn't ended already. Anyway, cheap substitute for bacta. Frankly, I'm surprised you're still standing." He seemed to get a new thought and looked at her with more scrutiny, then looked back at Rex.

"Clone with Republic insignia on clothing, and in extremely fit physical condition. Would his template happen to be-"

"Jango Fett," Ahsoka completed, wishing the man was less curious.

"Yes!" Qhorin turned back around excitedly, looking at her with a manic grin. "And you! Quick to heal, stamina far beyond what one would expect for your body type. Pheromones indicate extremely high stress levels. A clone trooper was trying to kill you against his will. Who is the Republic currently targeting? A Separatist wouldn't try to save a clone, only option is-"

"I am not a Jedi," Ahsoka said through clenched teeth. The words were loud and forceful enough that Lyra looked up and glared suspiciously at her before going back to her work.

"Really?" Qhorin stroked another of his tentacles. "Not a Jedi..." His eyes widened with comprehension. "Female adolescent Togruta. Not a Jedi, but has characteristics of one. I thought your face reminded me of a wanted poster I saw a few-"

"Alright, fine," Ahsoka snapped. "I can tell you watch the news. Do you harass all of your patients like this?"

Qhorin blinked, then took a step back. "No, no. I'm sorry. I get curious, is all. You've got nothing to worry about, Miss Tano, I've got no intentions of turning you over to the Republic. Empire, I mean, have to get used to that. A Jedi helped me set this clinic up, I've always had good relations with the Order. Do you know a Master Rig Neema?"

Ahsoka felt her stomach drop. She lowered her eyes to the floor. "Yes."

"Oh." Qhorin seemed to understand her meaning. "I'm sorry. She was a friend." And awkward silence hung between them for a moment. "But really, you should get in the tank while I take part of your friend's brain out." He turned away and walked back to Rex's side. "Lyra, I'll take it from here. Can you help our other friend into one of the kolto tanks?"

Ahsoka realized she wasn't going to get out of a dunk in the sticky tank, so she resignedly followed the Twi'lek to the back. She started to strip off her ruined clothing as Lyra was activating the tank.

Lyra glanced over her shoulder at her. "So did I hear right?"

Ahsoka was pulling off one of her gauntlets - those were still useable, at least. "Yes, I used to be a Jedi. No, I don't want to talk about it. How did you wind up here?"

Lyra looked away, blushing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I grew up on the streets around here, and Qhorin set up shop about five years ago. He would always give me food and fix me up for free whenever I came by. I think he's got a soft spot for orphans. One day I guess I never left."

Now Ahsoka was removing her grey leggings, which were now completely useless. "Oh yeah, how much will this be?" Ahsoka still had the credits from Riyo; she hoped they would be enough.

"Not as much as you're expecting," Lyra said as the top of the healing tank retracted into the ceiling. "He's not really in it for money."

"Sounds like somebody I used to know," Ahsoka muttered while she pulled off her bloodstained tunic. She looked down at herself and winced. It looked like she might have a few new scars at the end of the day. "A Jedi who was a friend of mine."

"I guess that's why he got along with you - them - so well." Lyra looked unfazed at seeing so much of Ahsoka's body, not unexpected for someone who worked in a clinic.

"Get me out when he's finished with Rex," Ahsoka said, climbing the steps to the top of the tank and putting on the breath mask. She wanted to get this over with; who knew how long Ventress was going to wait for her. Ahsoka plunged into the tank and let herself fall into a trance as the cool liquid washed over her.

* * *

_Ahsoka was on a narrow walkway, a dark grey metal wall on one side and a drop into molten lava on the other, all beneath a pitch black sky clouded with poisonous fumes. She looked around, confused and with a vague feeling that she had been here before. Something about the whistling of the wind and the regular booming of pockets of lava below made her shiver despite the intense heat. She found herself moving forward, like something was drawing her inexorably towards it. She was filled with a simultaneous feeling of hope and dread, unlike anything she'd felt before. Far ahead on the walkway she could see a figure looking out over the hellish landscape, and she knew that he was why she was here. Ahsoka walked faster until she found herself running, but the figure barely seemed to get any closer. His identity was impossible to tell since he was wrapped in a black cloak with the hood drawn up that rippled in the wind behind him. She ran faster, overcome with desperation. She felt like she knew the figure, but she couldn't place who he was. She had to know, even though her dread increased with every step she took._

_"You can't stop him, Ahsoka."_

_Ahsoka skidded to a stop as she heard the voice, a voice that she hadn't heard for months. She whirled around to find the source, and sure enough Barriss was sitting with her back to the wall, looking up at her. She was clad in a dirty orange prison uniform, and her hair was longer than Ahsoka had ever seen on her. There was a new scar running along the side of her face that looked like it had come from a lightsaber. Where could she have gotten that?_

_"Who is he?" Ahsoka found herself asking._

_Barriss only looked at her with pity. "You know who he is."_

_"No, I really don't Barriss," Ahsoka said, balling up a fist in frustration. "Why can't you just stay dead?"_

_"If only," Barriss muttered, which confused her. "Don't go looking for him Ahsoka. It will only end badly for you."_

_Ahsoka glanced over at the cloaked figure and saw that somehow they had moved much closer to him._

_"You're one to talk about bad endings," Ahsoka snapped at her. Barriss' look of pity only increased._

_"You followed the warning because of what I did, even though neither of us knew it. Follow this one too, or you still may never see your future."_

_Ahsoka took a step back, confused. What was she talking about? What warning?_

_"Or you could see a future even worse than none," Barriss said, getting a far-away look on her face. "Like I have."_

_Ahsoka turned and ran from Barriss, towards the cloaked figure. She reached out to grab his shoulder, but just before she got to him the entire vision dissolved into smoke._


	15. Siblings

A change in the solution around her jolted Ahsoka awake. Her eyelids fluttered open, giving her a distorted view of someone touching a hand on her tank. She sensed the lid being lifted away, and propelled herself upwards. Pulling herself out and climbing down, she made sure to keep her mouth closed. This kolto stuff probably tasted as bad as bacta did. But at least it didn't seem as sticky; the fluid was quickly running off her into the drains in the floor.

"Glad to see you up," Shaak Ti said. Surprised, Ahsoka turned her head and saw that the Jedi Master was indeed standing next to her. Shaak had changed out of her ruined tunic at some point, now she wore a simple blue and green civilian outfit.

"When did you get here?" Ahsoka asked, grabbing a towel from a hook nearby to dry herself off. Her pain had faded to a slight ache, and she could barely see her wounds. Either the temperature or the last vestiges of her dream was making her shiver. Thankfully, Shaak Ti had gotten Ahsoka new clothes from wherever her own had come from. She found a sleeveless dark grey-green shirt and black pants and quickly started getting dressed.

"A few hours ago," Shaak Ti said, gesturing at another tank. Ahsoka followed her gaze and saw that Katooni was suspended inside it.

"Oh." She'd been in the tank that long? Ahsoka looked around the rest of the room. Rex was still sedated and Qhorin was watching his medical readouts, while Jinx sat on a cot nearby practically boring a hole intothe clone with his eyes. His lightsaber was gripped tightly in his right hand. Great. She should have known he would react badly to Rex. Lyra sat next to him trying to strike up a conversation, Jinx was responding as little as he could while still being civil.

"Ventress brought us here after she dropped you off. She said you had a lot to explain to us." Shaak Ti tossed something to her and Ahsoka dropped the towel to catch it. It was a small transparent slide containing a slice of raw pink flesh. "I assume this is what she was referring to?"

Ahsoka glanced over at Rex before responding. "Yes. Is he alright?"

Shaak Ti sighed and rubbed at her temples. "He's healthy, if that's what you mean. Ahsoka..."

She knew exactly where that tone was leading. "Let me guess, this is the part where you tell me what a kriffing idiot I am?"

Shaak Ti ignored her snide remark. "Ahsoka, what were you thinking?"

"I wanted to save my friend from being the Emperor's slave, is that such a terrible thing?!" Ahsoka glared at her.

Shaak Ti was unreadable, but it was obvious she disapproved. "I understand your sentiment Ahsoka, but you saw what they did. Rex may not be the man you knew anymore."

Ahsoka threw Rex's chip back at her. "You of all people should know better!" She was aware of the others looking at her as she shouted, but she didn't care. "He could have killed me when he had that thing inside him! He had me at gunpoint, I didn't have my lightsaber, and he fought it off and shot himself rather than kill me!" Ahsoka pointed a finger in the other Togruta's face. "We can trust him!"

Shaak Ti remained silent throughout Ahsoka's rant. "You'll have to forgive me for being cautious," she said at last, sighing.

"I know," Ahsoka said, rubbing her own temples. She was starting to think that nightmare had given her a headache, too. "It's just...you've always said how the clones are individuals. Without that thing in his head Rex as just as much of a choice as any of us."

Jinx finally spoke up. "Do you really think he would choose us over his brothers?"

"Why don't we ask him?!" Ahsoka shot back.

Jinx looked away from her. "If he tries anything..." He squeezed his lightsaber tighter.

Ahsoka's eyes went wide. "Don't finish that sentence," she warned him, glaring. "I'll talk to Rex."

Ahsoka could almost feel the worried way that Shaak Ti was looking at her. "If you think that's best."

Qhorin coughed to get their attention. "Sorry. Didn't want to interrupt your conversation. I'm about to wake him up. Master Ti, Jinx, you should probably wait outside with the Wookiee. From what I've gathered, Rex will have the most positive reaction to Miss Tano. He could be...unpredictable."

Ahsoka nodded. "That sounds like a good idea, Doctor."

Qhorin touched a few controls and then pulled the IV out of Rex's arm. "Alright, move out. You too Lyra. We'll be listening in case things get, ah..." He coughed. "Unpleasant."  
As the others left the room something clicked in Ahsoka's head. "Where's Ventress?"

"Gone," Shaak Ti said, stopping in the doorway. "She left after she brought us here. Said that she was finding her own way off Coruscant, and to tell you that you were dangerously reckless."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow marking. "Did she really say that?" Ventress was one to talk about recklessness, Ahsoka thought.

"Well," said Shaak Ti. "She didn't exactly put it that way." The corner of her mouth twitched slightly upward. "I believe her words were _"__Tell that idiot little hornhead that she's going to get herself killed."_"

Ahsoka couldn't help but chuckle, despite herself. "That sounds more like Asajj."

This time it was Shaak Ti's turn to raise an eyebrow marking. "It's Asajj now?"

Ahsoka blinked. Had she really used the Dathomirian's first name? "Apparently." They would probably never see each other again, and Ahsoka was actually missing her company. Maybe she really was going crazy.

Shaak Ti's expression of worry returned. "I'll leave you two alone, then." But she didn't move, seemingly torn between two sides of an internal debate. "Ahsoka," she said shakily after a moment. "About Anakin..."

"Don't," Ahsoka said, closing her eyes and holding her hand up. That was the last thing she needed to think about right now. "I already know."

After a pause she heard the door slide shut. Ahsoka opened her eyes to find herself alone in the room with Rex.

* * *

"Rex," he heard a voice say. He felt a pounding headache and a stiff slab of metal under his unarmored back. There was some kind of bandage on the side of his head, the source of the pounding. Kriff, what had he managed to do to himself this time? Kix was going to give him hell about it for days.

"It's me, Ahsoka."

The memories came flooding back. Knightfall, General Skywalker, the fight in the Archives. Ahsoka, most of all. No wonder he had a headache; he'd vaping _shot_ himself. His eyes opened to a harsh white light and an orange blur. After a few seconds of rapid blinking he saw that Ahsoka was standing over him and smiling. Rex knew all of Ahsoka's expressions, and right now he noticed that her eyes didn't smile with her face.

"Hey kid," he said weakly.

Usually Ahsoka would roll her eyes at the nickname, but this time she grimaced. Rex knew that she hadn't been a kid for two years now. Rex had helped and watched her grow from a wisp of a youngling who was so shiny she blinded those with unprotected eyes into the most capable young woman he had ever had the privilege of serving with. But now the hollow look in her eyes nearly broke his heart. The ferocity and stubbornness were still there, but the spark of innocence was nearly dead.

"Are you feeling right?" Her eyes flickered over to the bandage above his ear.

Rex touched it with his hand and felt the strange smoothness of his scalp. His short dyed hair had been shaved at some point. The chip, he realized. It was gone. It had to be, or that same overwhelming compulsion that he had barely triumphed over would be there now, and he would be trying to kill Ahsoka until his last breath.

"We're in a med clinic down in the underworld," Ahsoka said carefully.

Rex sat up and swung his legs over the side of the table, taking a look around. The place seemed well-equipped, if a bit cobbled together. Equipment from different makers and decades sat next to each other, kitbashed together skillfully but awkwardly. It would have driven Kix right up the wall.

"It's gone, isn't it?" Rex tapped his bandage. "That thing inside my head."

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes."

"I should have listened to Fives," Rex growled. "We all should have listened to Fives."

"You couldn't have known-" Ahsoka started, but Rex cut her off.

"Of course I could have known! I was with him when he died! That _shabuir_ Fox shot him to death, and his last words were to try and warn me! He said it was bigger than any of us!" He balled up his fists and pressed them against his forehead, leaning forward so that his elbows were on his knees. "He knew what was coming Ahsoka, and _none of us kriffing listened!_"

Ahsoka sat down on the table next to him and took his outburst in silence. "I'm sorry," she said quietly after a moment.

"Me too," Rex said. He shouldn't have yelled at her like that. "They said that he lost his mind and tried to kill the Chancellor," he said.

"I think it was the other way around," Ahsoka muttered darkly.

Rex looked at her face and saw that she was struggling to repress an outpouring of emotion. He'd been around enough Jedi to know what that looked like, and whatever they called her now he knew Ahsoka was still one of them.

"They called most of the troops away from the-" Rex choked on his words, "-from the Temple, to the Senate building. Command said Palpatine was making an emergency announcement."

Ahsoka continued to sit there in silence. "Ahsoka, what did he say?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "He said that the Jedi had tried to overthrow him. And then he proclaimed himself Galactic Emperor."

Had he just heard her right? The Republic now had an _Emperor?! _"I...what?" Rex gaped at her. "He was planning to use us to take out the Jedi all along, so he could make himself an Empire?!"

Ahsoka looked at him painfully. "It gets worse."

Rex gaped at her. "How? How could it get worse?!"

"Rex..." Ahsoka reached over and grasped his hand in her own. "The Jedi _did _try to take out Palpatine."

Somehow, he gaped even wider. "Why?"

"Do you know what the Sith are?"

Rex blinked at her. What did that have to do with anything? "Only from military history. Dooku was one of them, right? Aren't they some kind of heresy of the Jedi?" He'd always thought of that sort of thing as above his pay grade. He was interested in the Jedi's combat abilities, they could keep the philosophy to themselves.

"You could say that," Ahsoka said. Her face contorted strangely as she tried to find a way to put it into words. "More of our opposite, really. Everything the Jedi aren't. They only care about their own power."

Rex shuddered. "Sounds terrible."_An evil I can't well imagine, _that was how he'd put it to Cut Lawquane on Saleucami.

"They are," Ahsoka said. "Ever since the last war with them a thousand years ago, there've only been two at one time. A Master and an Apprentice. The idea was that they grew stronger with each generation, since the Apprentice had to kill their Master to take their place." Her voice dripped with disgust.

Rex had studied the Battle of Ruusan in tactical school, but this detail was new to him. "Which was Dooku?" he asked. He could feel a strange crawling sensation on his skin. Whatever she was leading up to, he knew he wouldn't like it.

Ahsoka looked away. "The Apprentice."

"And the Master..." Rex trailed off as he felt his blood run cold. "No. He can't..."

Ahsoka still wouldn't meet his eyes as she confirmed it. "It's Palpatine. I'm so sorry."

Rex put his head back in his hands. Palpatine was Dooku's master. This entire war had been a conspiracy from the start. Two manufactured armies being thrown at each other until the galaxy was so tired of it all they valued peace more than freedom. Rex and all of his millions of brothers had lived only so that at the right moment they would turn and shoot their Jedi commanders in the back. It was all a lie. Fives' death, Echo and Waxer and Hardcase and Denal and everyone, they had all died for nothing at all. His entire purpose in life was that tiny growth that had just been cut out of his head, and now he was nothing.

Either the shock or the meds caught up to him, and Rex fell forward onto his hands and knees, retching up everything in his stomach onto the floor. He felt Ahsoka's hand on his back as it all came out, and Rex felt himself crying in rage. He'd _never _done that before. Not when Ahsoka had left, not even when Fives had died. It was all pouring out of him now. All of those years of repressed grief, Christophsis, Teth, Geonosis, Umbara and what felt like half the damn galaxy. It went on for ages, until Rex felt like he had emptied all the fluid from his body. Then he lurched unsteadily to his feet.

"I'll kill him!" He shouted uselessly up at the ceiling, his voice hoarse. "I'll kill him with my bare hands! I'll make him beg for mercy!" He threw something across the room with a loud crash and collapsed again, but this time Ahsoka caught him and embraced him. He felt her chest press against his own and her montrals rubbing against his cheek. He heard her whisper words of comfort to him between her own choking attempts to not fall apart herself. In that moment, Rex couldn't have let go of her if the world had depended on it.

They stayed like that for a long time until Rex finally went silent, feeling completely empty on the inside. Even still, they kept holding each other. Eventually he pulled away and sat down, knowing that after all of that there was no way she would let go first.

"Well," Rex said, his throat so dry that he felt he could drink the entire ocean of Kamino and still be thirsty. "What now?"

Ahsoka rubbed her elbow and lowered her eyes. "I understand if you want to go back," she said, then her words started spilling out faster than his ears could keep up. "I can't ask you to fight your own brothers and you can say that we captured you for information but you were able to escape and-"

"Ahsoka," Rex stopped her, grasping her firmly by the shoulders. "I am not going back. I'm Captain of Torrent Company of the 501st Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic. But the Republic is gone, and I didn't swear allegiance to any scheming _Emperor_."

Ahsoka looked back up again, and he could see on her face that she was relieved beyond words.

"They'll think you're a deserter." she said.

"The GAR doesn't exist anymore, but I doubt they'll see it that way. Guess I'm a deserter." Somewhere on Saleucami, Cut Lawquane was laughing.

"We'll be on the run for the rest of our lives," said Ahsoka.

"Don't care." He honestly didn't. Let the Empire come, together he and Ahsoka could take them all. "I know what I'm getting into."

He knew she wanted so badly for him to say yes, but would never take advantage of him, especially in a time like this. "Rex, we might have to fight your brothers."

This time Rex stayed silent for a while, thinking it over carefully even though his mind was already made up. "Ahsoka," he finally said. "Do you know what the men of Torrent Company used to say about you?"

"No," she said, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"We used to say that we had more brothers than we can count," he said, and despite the crushing despair he'd felt only minutes earlier he found himself grinning like a shiny in his first set of armor. "But that we only had one sister."

Ahsoka's face lit up in joy and the next thing he knew she was hugging him again, nearly knocking him onto his back. She laughed in a way that took him right back to Christophsis. Honestly, all this physical contact with his former commanding officer was starting to make him a bit uncomfortable, but she was so happy that Rex didn't care one iota.

"Thank you," Ahsoka whispered after she'd calmed down. "I thought I'd lost everyone."

Something about the way she said that made him uneasy. "Don't talk like that," he said. "There's got to be-"

"I saw the list, Rex. Almost everyone is dead. Even…" Ahsoka's voice faltered.

"Even Anakin."

Suddenly, Rex was extremely thankful that Ahsoka hadn't let go of him yet. That way, she couldn't see the blood draining from his face.

She didn't know.

He'd been too focused on himself since he woke up to even think about General Skywalker. But now everything he had done flashed through Rex's head. Marching into the Temple, killing Jedi, fighting General Ti…

_Those Padawans…  
_  
Somebody had to tell her.

Ahsoka pulled back and held him at arm's length. She looked at him curiously with her head cocked slightly to one side.

"What is it?"

Rex opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

The door to the room opened and a group of beings burst in. Ahsoka let go of him so fast she could have jumped into hyperspace and turned to face them. Rex let the air out of his lungs; he hadn't even noticed that he was holding his breath. His relief quickly turned to confusion and then alarm, however, as he saw who led the group.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Shaak Ti said. She held her unlit lightsaber in her hand. "Rex has quite convinced me of his sincerity, but we've got trouble."

"Clones?" Ahsoka asked, reaching at her side for something that wasn't there. Rex felt his heart beat faster. He'd been serious about what he said, but being confronted with the reality that he may wind up killing his own was horrifying.

"Just the one," said a Twi'lek kid. He glared suspiciously at Rex as Shaak Ti clarified.

"Not clones. Bounty hunters."


End file.
